Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s forthcoming visit to the Gulf is aimed at solving the GCC crisis and it reflects Turkey’s desire to solve the dispute amicably through dialogue, chairman of the Turkish-Qatari Relations Committee at the Turkish Parliament Dr Yasin Aktay has said.
The Turkish president will start the GCC tour on Sunday by visiting Saudi Arabia from where he will move to Kuwait, which plays the role of mediator in the crisis. He will visit Qatar on Monday.
In an interview with Al Sharq newspaper, Aktay said that since the beginning of the crisis, Turkey has been seeking to solve the dispute in various ways and to be a key to dialogue and understanding between the brothers.
“Although Turkey supports the Qatari position and its people who are under unjust siege, it is concerned about what is going on in the region, especially as it has information about plots and conspiracies to divide the region,” Aktay said.
“Turkey tried to resolve the crisis at its beginning with complete neutrality, but the other parties did not respond positively to the Turkish efforts,” he said, adding that his country was willing to hear from all sides, “and if there is a default from Qatar, Turkey will ask it to back down”.
Aktay stressed on Turkey’s support for the State of Qatar, pointing out that it is unacceptable for the siege countries to demand Qatar to sever its relationship with any particular country.
Meanwhile, he called on Saudi Arabia to play a positive role in the crisis because of its status among the countries of the region, noting that Turkey supported Riyadh against the US with regard to the JASTA law.
The Turkish parliament official praised Qatar’s rational and wise policy in managing the crisis and not escalating it, as well as in maintaining fraternal relations with the Gulf states and taking into account the feelings of the peoples of the siege countries.
Aktay also praised Qatar’s policy in giving Turkey an opportunity to mediate and bring the points of view closer even though the regimes of the siege countries did not take into account the feelings of the Qatari people and gave no chance for a solution or dialogue.
As for whether all the parties to the siege are listening to the Turkish point of view, he said Saudi Arabia understands Turkey’s point of view, noting that his country appreciates that because Saudi Arabia is an important country and it must play a positive and neutral role, and not be biased towards one side, especially as the security of the region is linked to each other, and that the continuation of the crisis puts the region at great risk.
On the possibility of Saudi Arabia’s acceptance of the Turkish mediation and its rejection by the UAE, Aktay said that this is possible and unfortunately, the UAE is heading towards escalating the crisis, adding Ankara wanted the UAE to take a position that supports peace and reconciliation in the region as everyone is a loser from this crisis.
Aktay warned of the repercussions of the crisis, stressing that Israel is the real beneficiary and then the dictatorial regimes.
The Turkish official expressed concern over the future of the region as he said there have been sinister plans to destroy the unity of the Gulf countries.
He affirmed unifying the position of the countries of the region to face the divisive plan which will not exclude any country, whether Saudi Arabia or Turkey. “The West supports this division, so we believe that any threat directed to Saudi Arabia is mainly directed to Turkey.”
The chairman of the Turkish-Qatari relations committee underlined the strategic relations between Qatar and Turkey and their co-operation in the matters related to both the countries in particular and the region in general.