Siege to remain a disgrace forever: Qatar’s Turkey envoy

HE Qatar's Ambassador to Turkey Salem bin Mubarak Al Shafi said that countries blockading Qatar want to use the subject of terrorism to mislead the international community and the major powers about the true nature of their intentions and their illegal and inhuman actions against Qatar.

In an interview with Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, HE Salim bin Mubarak Al Shafi said that the siege measures against the State of Qatar will remain an everlasting disgrace, pointing out that the siege countries are repeating baseless allegations about the State of Qatar's connection with financing or supporting terrorism.

In response to a question that some people consider these measures as a boycott and not as a siege, he said Qatar has land borders only with Saudi Arabia, and when Riyadh closes the border, it means cutting off our land from the outside world that definitely is a siege. He pointed that Saudi newspapers like Okaz, Al Eqtisadiah and Asharq Al Awsat described the measures taken against Qatar as a "siege", adding that Western countries also see it as a siege and not a boycott.

He added that they prevented Qatari aircraft from flying over their land, but Qatar was able to break this blockade by flying through the airspace of Iran and Turkey. They would have  closed that too if they could, he added.

"Even if we agree that it is a boycott, they contradict themselves by saying that they have prevented their companies and citizens from dealing with Qatar and then the Saudi offering to help Qatar by supplying food and medicines. Of course we refused the offer that because we did not need that, even under the siege," HE the Ambassador said.

He pointed out that the actions taken by these countries are illegal, immoral and far from being human, Arab and Islamic values, pointing that thousands of families have been affected by these decisions. He added that the State of Qatar has documented these violations and they are being followed by human rights institutions including the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Amnesty International, which described the expulsion of Qatari citizens from the siege countries is done with "an absolute contempt for human dignity."  "We have also commissioned specialized legal offices in Switzerland to claim compensation for the material and moral damages suffered by all those affected by their actions," he added.

HE the Ambassador said that the use of Muslims' Holy places in a political conflict was unacceptable and not lawful, pointing that Qatar has documented cases of expulsion of Qatari worshipers from Umrah, as well as cases of forcing out Qatari residents in their hotels or students from their schools. He said that such inhumane actions were not limited to people, but animals also were subjected to that, referring to expulsion of Qatari citizens-owned camels and cattle.
He stressed that all the influential countries such as the US, Germany, France, Russia, Japan and the Islamic world,  reject the actions of the siege countries and therefore, the officials in the countries are trying to deny these things to the media. He added people know perfectly well that they have no credibility, especially after their failure to provide evidence of the false accusations against Qatar and their refusal of negotiations.

On the allegations concerning Qatar's support or financing of terrorist organizations, HE Salim bin Mubarak Al Shafi said that Qatar, along with many countries such as US, has officially demanded evidence of these serious allegations. The siege countries failed to provide any, prompting US officials to express their frustration. He added that the US State Department has publicly questioned the real intention of the blockade.