Qatar’s Emir and Erdogan discuss Gulf crisis

Turkish president reviews Gulf row with Qatar’s Emir on the last leg of his shuttle diplomacy tour in the region.

Qatar and Turkey have discussed the Gulf crisis and efforts being exerted to defuse the dispute between Doha and a group of Saudi-led Arab states through dialogue and diplomatic means.

This came during a meeting between Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Doha on Monday.

The two sides praised Kuwait’s mediation to end the row. Erdogan is on a Gulf tour that took him to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The two leaders also discussed Qatar-Turkey joint efforts in the fight against “terrorism and extremism”, according to Qatar’s state news agency.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who was accompanying Erdogan, said that Turkey was trying to organise direct talks between the disputing sides.

“The most appropriate way is to sit together around the table and [have] direct talks. This is the main obstacle in front of us and I hope there will be an opportunity for such format soon,” he said.

On Sunday, Erdogan met with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman separately in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

He then travelled to Kuwait – the main mediator in the Gulf row – to meet with the country’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al Sabah.

Qatar’s emir said in an address to the nation on Friday that Doha was open to talks with the Saudi-led bloc on condition that his country’s “sovereignty” was respected.

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, speaking from London, said: “Everyone now understands that Kuwait is going to have to be the party where Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others sit down with Qatar and work their differences out diplomatically at the negotiation table.”

He said the blockade on Qatar will have to be lifted in order to make that happen.

The air, land and sea embargo was imposed against Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt after they accused Qatar of supporting “extremists” in the region and cut ties with it. Qatar has strongly denied the allegations.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies