The Turkish foreign ministry on Friday strongly condemned Israel's decision to construct 1,300 new settlements in East Jerusalem despite numerous calls from the international community, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. Such activities would lead to a failure in efforts for resumption of peace talks in the region, the ministry's spokesman Selcuk Unal was quoted as saying. Attempts to change the demographic structure, status and cultural identity of Jerusalem rose concerns, Unal said, adding that Turkey expected Israel to stop its settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and avoid taking unilateral steps which would negatively affect talks on final status. Israel's interior ministry said Monday that it planned to build 1,300 new apartments in East Jerusalem despite fierce opposition from the Palestinians. 