Istanbul's Marmara University will host a new research center that will focus on the historic city of Jerusalem.

Turkey's Supreme Board of Education (YÖK) said the center will carry out academic and scholarly studies on Jerusalem, a key issue for the Islamic world and the Middle East. "We will provide academic and scholarly support to the Palestinian cause and raise international awareness through the Jerusalem Research Center," Yekta Saraç, the head of the board, told a meeting on the planned center in Ankara.

The center comes after a new international focus on the city, sacred to the three Abrahamic faiths. It has recently made headlines following a U.S.-decision to recognize the city as Israel's capital and the controversy over access to the city's Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The research center will support academic and cultural studies into the city's history, social structure, and political situation, according to YÖK. The center will cooperate with national and international academic institutions working on the Jerusalem issue and award scholarships. It also plans to host seminars, workshops, panels, symposiums, conferences and similar events. It will carry out joint projects in the field and publish reports, analyses, newsletters, magazines, and books on the Jerusalem issue. In addition, the center will offer graduate and doctoral studies on the city of Jerusalem. It plans to carry out publications on Jerusalem studies and set up a documentation center, a specialized library and a database for undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as researchers.