Turkey backs Qatar, slams ‘disrespectful’ Gulf states
ISTANBUL (Reuters) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday he backed Qatar’s response to a list of demands issued by Arab states boycotting the Gulf emirate, and said calls for a Turkish military base there to close were disrespectful.
Qatar has described the pressure by its larger neighbors as an “illegal blockade” aimed at curbing its sovereignty, and said that the ultimatum by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain was unreasonable.
In his strongest statement of support for Qatar in the nearly three-week-old crisis, Erdogan said Doha was taking the right approach.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain imposed a boycott on June 5 on Qatar and issued 13 demands, including closing Al Jazeera television, curbing relations with Iran, shutting the Turkish base and paying reparations.
Doha said it was reviewing the list, but said it was not reasonable or actionable.
”We approve and appreciate the attitude of Qatar against the list of 13 demands,” Erdogan, speaking outside a mosque in Istanbul, said.
“This approach of 13 demands is against international law because you cannot attack or intervene in the sovereignty of a country.”
The demands are apparently aimed at dismantling Qatar’s interventionist foreign policy which has incensed conservative Arab peers over its alleged support for Islamists they regard as threats to their dynastic rule.
Both Qatar and Turkey, whose ruling AK Party has its roots in Islamist politics, backed a Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt before it was overthrown in 2013.
The Arab states have demanded Qatar cut any links to the Brotherhood and other groups they deem to be terrorist, ideological or sectarian..