Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia discussed the Qatar crisis as these countries’ ambassadors met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Turkish media outlets reported on June 12.

The meeting was held in a closed format.

Foreign Ministry sources told Hürriyet Daily News that Cavusoglu conveyed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s message that the ongoing row in the Gulf should be resolved before Eid al-fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Ankara is currently in efforts to ease the embargo on Qatar and to end the crisis before Eid al-fitr, the sources said.

Several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the latter of supporting ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other terrorists and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East. They were later joined by Libya, Yemen, the Maldives, Mauritius and Mauritania, with Jordan and Djibouti announcing they would lower the level of diplomatic contacts with Qatar. Senegal and Chad recalled their ambassadors from Doha.

Doha denied allegations over its support to terrorism and extremism adding that the diplomatic rift was based on "baseless fabricated claims."

Some of the Gulf states severed transit links and gave Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave their countries.

Qatar, a small peninsular nation of 2.5 million people, was importing 80 percent of its food requirements from bigger Gulf Arab neighbors before they cut ties with it.

Turkey and Iran have been providing food and water supplies to Qatar. Over the past five days, Turkey has sent 15 aircraft with food supplies to Qatar. Moreover, Turkey has declared its full support to Qatar by adopting a bill on deploying Turkish troops in the country.

Meanwhile, Qatari authorities paid $2.5 million to a law firm owned by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was in charge of the supervisory authority during George W. Bush's presidency.

American lawyers should assess and record the efforts made by the Qatari authorities in the fight against international terrorism. Ashcroft might personally participate in this work.

Qatar expressed its readiness for a dialogue to solve the crisis that has recently occurred in its relations with a number of Arab states.

Currently, Kuwait is a mediator in resolving the Qatar crisis.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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