Erdogan starts Gulf tour to mediate on Qatar, praising Saudi as region’s ‘elder statesman’
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday met Saudi King Salman as part of mediation efforts over the crisis with Qatar.
Mr Erdogan was met by the governor of Mecca province, Prince Khalid Al Faisal, and also met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He was later due to travel to Kuwait, which has taken the role as lead mediator over the Qatar crisis, before heading to Doha the following day.
There, Mr Erdogan is set to have his first meeting with Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim, since the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt moved to isolate the country over its support for extremism.
“No one has any interest in prolonging this crisis any more,” Mr Erdogan said yesterday. “I hope our visit will be beneficial for the region.”
He blamed “enemies” for causing tensions between “brothers” in the region.
Qatar has been Ankara’s closest Gulf ally since 2011 when both backed Islamist political parties and rebels during the Arab Spring.
Mr Erdogan’s public position on the measures taken by the four Arab countries to force Qatar to end its support for terrorist groups has angered their officials.
Turkey expedited the sending of troops to its new base in Qatar, which the four countries called on Doha to close. The act was seen as Ankara siding with Qatar against them.
Observers say that because of Mr Erdogan’s public stance on the dispute, there is little chance for his diplomacy to have an effect.
He will probably be more concerned about protecting his country’s growing economic relationship with Saudi Arabia and the UAE at a time when Gulf markets and investors are even more crucial.
“As the elder statesman in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia has a big role to play in solving the crisis,” Mr Erdogan said yesterday.
The Turkish president’s foray into Gulf diplomacy came as EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini called for direct talks to agree on “a roadmap for a swift resolution” of the Qatar crisis.
Ms Mogherini’s call came after she met Kuwait’s emir Sheikh Sabah and other officials, and expressed EU support for the country’s “relentless mediation” in the dispute.
She said the EU was ready to support the process of negotiations and assist in implementing a plan for the resolution of the crisis, particularly in counter-terrorism.
It follows recent visits to both
sides in the crisis by US, British, French and German senior diplomats.
Sheikh Tamim addressed the crisis publicly for the first time on Friday, saying that Qatar was willing to engage in talks with the four countries but that his nation’s sovereignty must be respected.
The speech came hours after US secretary of state Rex Tillerson urged the quartet to open Qatar’s border with Saudi Arabia as a good-will gesture.
Mr Tillerson said the bilateral agreement he signed with Qatar’s foreign minister creating a US role in Doha’s financial counter-terrorism work had addressed the main grievances and was being “aggressively implemented” by Qatar.
Yesterday, UK foreign minister Boris Johnson joined Mr Tillerson’s call for an easing of the quartet’s isolation measures to allow direct negotiations to begin.
“We hope that in turn Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain respond by taking steps towards lifting the embargo,” he said.
“This will allow substantive discussions on remaining differences to begin.”
But no steps on the land, sea and air boycott have been forthcoming, and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash, said on Saturday that Qatar must change its policies before negotiations could begin.