In an interview given to Al Haqiqa TV show on Qatar TV, HE Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah said that Qatar is afraid of nothing but hopes that the crisis can be resolved through dialogue.
A fully prepared military force
He discussed enhancing the capabilities of the Qatari Armed Forces and said that its officers and individuals are among the most distinguished in the region.
Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah also highlighted the directive of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to enhance the armed forces’ capabilities, which prompted the adoption of different systems.
Al-Attiyah said that his main role is developing the armed forces.
That remains especially important because the enemy - terrorism - was unconventional.
While al-Attiyah maintained that plucking terrorism at the roots required attention to education and development, he noted that it also requires a fully-prepared military force that can defend the country against any terrorist attack.
About his views on the current crisis and the way it was fabricated, HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs said that he witnessed many crises in the region, but none of them resembled the current one.
He focused specifically on the hacking and said that he had attended the original event where the statement was falsely attributed to the Emir and stressed that the Emir did not talk to anyone but a young man by the name of Ghanem al-Muftah.
Afterwards at midnight, al-Attiyah added, they were surprised with the information published following the hacking of Qatar News Agency and the false statements attributed to the Emir.
Using old motives
Al-Attiyah said that he did not think the siege countries needed such crimes to start the siege, but that there were old and ongoing motives.
He said that things looked normal following the three meetings in Riyadh between the GCC, the Islamic-American Summit, the Arab-American summit.
Qatar had participated in all of those meetings and things looked normal, which leads the Deputy Prime Minister to believe that someone suggested they carry out that crime to push through with the plan.
On similarities with the crisis of 2013-2014 which saw a withdrawal of ambassadors, the Deputy Prime Minister said that they had the same goal but the tactics were different.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that the 2013-2014 crises were the same ones that took place in 1996.
He added that his post in 2013 allowed him to be part of the crisis first hand.
In late June 2013, al-Attiyah became the Foreign Minister in the first cabinet of the Emir.
Al-Attiyah said said that the Emir issued a directive in the first cabinet meeting that prioritises building a strong relationship with GCC countries in all aspects whether social, economic, or political.
He said that this directive was the top priority for the Emir in the first session with the cabinet.
Al-Attiyah said that the first call he received as foreign minister was from Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah.
The conversation focused on a call received by Kuwait’s foreign minister from his Saudi counterpart, may he rest in peace, Prince Saud al-Faisal enquiring about some issues in Qatar.
His Excellency’s response was that there were no issues and that the directives of His Highness the Emir were promising regarding Qatar’s position from the GCC.
The two sides then agreed that the Emir of Qatar and the emir of Kuwait would meet in New York to exchange ideas on that new development.
The meeting was not meant to be, however, as Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah suffered from illness that prevented him from going to New York.
A red line for Qatar
Al-Attiyah expressed his belief that the 2013 crisis was to try and shock at the beginning of the Emir’s rule in order to turn Qatar into a follower and force it to abandon its principles.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that this was considered a red line for Qatar.
On the move made by the four countries against Qatar in 2013, the Deputy Prime Minister said that Egypt was not involved in the 2013-2014 crises. Al-Attiyah said that he made a GCC tour to try and understand the motive behind the strange move back then. In November of 2013 the emir of Kuwait called His Highness the Emir and informed him of a visit he will pay to Qatar and then to Saudi Arabia. His Highness the Emir welcomed the initiative and ended up visiting Riyadh. On that visit, the Emir explained to King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, peace be upon him, all the details and clarified Qatar’s position. This resulted in the Riyadh agreement, which is being circulated now.
In November 2014, His Highness the Emir received another phone call from the emir of Kuwait and agreed to go to Riyadh and end the crisis once and for all. Al-Attiyah said that they were surprised that a Saudi official came carrying a piece of paper with contents that served as an attack on Qatar. His Highness the Emir rejected that document and said that any commitment must be binding to all parties and not just Qatar. Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed tried to convince His Highness the Emir to agree to the document, but that attempt failed. The Emir then made the necessary amendments to the document, which were agreed and the crisis was over.
On whether there was any truth in the efforts of former Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal to remove Qatar from the GCC, Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah said that he had no evidence of that even though the move seemed obvious. He said that he had very good ties with Prince Saud at some moments. He added that he sensed sometimes things were out of his Saudi counterpart’s hands. Even at times when resolving the crisis became essential, the Saudi foreign minister would receive directives to delay a resolution. This did not mean, al-Attiyah said, that Prince Saud was the leader of the severing of ties which took place in 2013.
Qatar only fears God
On the potential of military intervention back in 2014 by the siege countries in order to overthrow the Qatari leadership, al-Attiyah said that Qatar only fears God and that the trust His Highness the Emir has in the officials and his people was a big one. He said that protecting Qatar was the responsibility of everyone. Al-Attiyah said that there was a comprehensive plan and that there were two of those who participated in the 1996 coup that said there will be other attempts.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud directed former Crown Prince Mohamed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz during the 2013-2014 crisis to withdraw soldiers from the borders. Al-Attiyah said that Qatar was subjected to great injustice from its brothers, but remained well-intentioned in accordance to Qatar’s approach on realising interests without compromising principles.
Responding to reports that the Riyadh agreements were binding only on Qatar and not on the entire GCC, the Deputy Prime Minister said that such claims were false.
He added that there was a meeting in March in Riyadh to discuss an implementation mechanism being prepared by Kuwait.
He said that there were a number of strange occurrences, one of which was that several parties called on Sheikh Sabah to come early to Riyadh before the meeting.
They offered him a document to propose instead of the implementation mechanism.
The response of Sheikh Sabah was that Kuwait was acting as a mediator rather than the chair of the GCC summit, and so cannot present documents.
Those parties, however, did not listen to the advice of Sheikh Sabah and proposed the document.
Al-Attiyah, who was the foreign minister of Qatar during the meeting, ended up rejecting the document as it was offensive to Qatar.
Afterwards, Prince al-Faisal attempted to make changes to the document, but ones that were not acceptable to the Qatari side.
Then Sheikh Sabah and Youssef bin Alawi asked to be given time to write another document, which Qatar found acceptable because it laid out general principles rather than mention a country specifically.
Al-Attiyah said that he requested 24 hours to present the papers to the designated authorities, given it was no longer an implementation mechanism but a new document.
The other side rejected and was upset about the request, even though both Alawi and Sabah offered to come to Doha and return after 24 hours.
Ill-intentions
Another incident the Deputy Prime Minister said was that he received a call from Qatar while his counterparts were preparing the new document, which informed him that there were intentions of closing out the borders and withdrawing ambassadors as well as halting work with joint institutions.
Al-Attiyah said that the phone call was the first signal of the ill-intentions the other party had, whether or not Qatar signed the agreement.
The plan was to get Qatar to sign a document, and then use it as a launching point for their intentions by saying Qatar violated it.
Al-Attiyah signed the agreement and returned to Doha on March 4.
The announcement on withdrawing the ambassadors was made on March 5.
Al-Attiyah praised the wisdom of the His Highness the Emir, Sheikh Sabah, and Sultan Qaboos bin Said during the time of the 2014 crisis, as they played a big part in maintaining the unity of the GCC.
Al-Attiyah said that preserving the GCC was a priority even though the other side was pressing to create issues in that system.
He said that the role of Kuwait was highly appreciated and that Sheikh Sabah made tremendous efforts in order to resolve both crises.
Motive behind the Libyan issue
On why the Libyan crisis was brought up in the 2014 crisis even though it was resolved in 2012, al-Attiyah said that it was discussed in one of the sessions in 2013 were the Emir was present along with Sheikh Sabah and Prince Saud al-Faisal.
His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani asked the Saudi side to present any evidence which show Qatar’s violations.
Al Faisal’s response was that he did not trust that Qatari side.
The Emir asked in return to provide the evidence to Sheikh Sabah, which was agreed to.
Yet, Qatar never received that evidence.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that the Libya issue was discussed many times that it has become repetitive.
He said that the motive behind bringing up the Libyan issue was clear.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that he personally attended a meeting between the Emir, back when he was the Heir Apparent, and Moteb bin Abdullah, Khalid bin Sultan, and Prince Mohamed bin Nayef.
His assistants at that time were al-Aiban and Khalid al-Tuwaijri.
They discussed all matters related to the issue and the case was closed.
Al-Attiyah said that King Abdullah, peace be upon him, literally said after discussing the Libyan issue on another occasion that “the milk is clear” (an Arab saying used to describe resolving a quarrel). He said that the banding about the Libyan matter was clearly to try and dictate Qatar, which prompted al-Attiyah to call on all countries to respect each other’s sovereignty.
Daily co-ordination
On whether Egypt and the Arab Spring was the reason behind the 2013-2014 crises, al-Attiyah said that the Arab Spring was a discomfort for many regimes but not Qatar.
That is because the country was confident in its people and its development projects.
On Egypt, al-Attiyah said that it was one of the reasons but not the main reason behind the measures taken.
He added that it was used in order to arrive at the current situation.
On ties with Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain following the resolution of the crisis in 2014, al-Attiyah said that they returned to normal with all three countries.
The minister added that there was a daily co-ordination with the Saudi side.
He also said that it was Saudi Arabia that lost Qatar in this severe crisis and not the other way around.
Ties with the UAE were regular.
There was co-ordination in all issues between the two countries.
The same applied to Bahrain just one week before the crisis.
Egyptian media’s attack on Qatar
On the reaction of the GCC to Egyptian’s media’s incitement and insulting of Qatar following the 2014 Riyadh agreement, al-Attiyah said that Qatar provided evidence of that to the GCC’s General Secretariat but they were not considered.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that the continued media attacks on Qatar whether in Egypt, Washington, or Europe made Qatar realise that they must work on protecting their interests rather than making complaints.
Al-Attiyah expressed his view that the media in Egypt that insults Qatar was pushed to do so by one of the GCC countries and not Egypt itself.
He said that this was the case now and as it was during the 2013-2014 periods.
He noted that all Qatari attempts to bring points of views with the Egyptian side closer were tampered with by GCC parties.
On why ties with Egypt failed to improve, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the directives of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was clear that Qatar’s commitment with Egypt should not be affected because they realise the value of Egypt and having it remain strong.
He stressed that Qatar had ties with Egypt during the revolution from Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi all the way to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
Al-Attiyah said that Qatar supported all governments that came after the revolution whether they were temporary or elected, rather than focusing on dealing with a particular party or individuals.
On why the siege countries leaked the Riyadh 2013 agreement to the media, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the siege countries provided Qatar with a free gift when they did so.
The role of GCC
That is because the leak clearly showed that there was only one article that addressed Qatar, the rest of the document was an agreement of general principles for all members of the GCC.
The Deputy Prime Minister addressed the role of the GCC General-Secretariat in the GCC crisis and said that it was unfair to compare Abdullatif al-Zayani to previous Secretary-Generals who were real stalwarts at the post.
He added that Qatar was displeased with the way al-Zayani managed the 2013-2014 crises as well as the current one, because the secretary-general should represent the entire GCC rather than representing one side or his country.
Al-Attiyah added that Qatar agreed to renew al-Zayani’s term to remain within the GCC’s consensus.
The Deputy Prime Minister described the accusation of the Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohamed al-Khalifah in which he said that Qatar gave the co-ordinates of the Arab Coalition in Yemen’s Ma’arib to Houthi groups as dangerous.
He said that such an accusation could have severe ramifications and called on the Bahriani foreign minister to revise his remark in that regard because the age of nations is longer than that of people.
On the attempts of UAE’s ambassador Youssef al-Otaiba to demonise Qatar, al-Attiyah said that Qatar knows all the details of those attempts.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that ranking US officials would ask Qatar for an explanation as to why al-Otaiba would describe them as the Number One Enemy.
Al-Attiyah said that Qatar would opt out of answering such questions because the GCC leaders had a direct relationship with one another, and nothing seemed to be off.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that Qatar’s support to the UAE’s 2020 Expo bid was a directive by His Highness the Emir.
He added that the UAE sent a message thanking Qatar for its support.
The Deputy Prime Minister then expressed his surprise that the UAE would then attempt to sabotage Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup, which belongs to all Arabs and Muslims.
Related Story
On the opening of a Taliban office in Qatar and the reaction to that, al-Attiyah said that Qatar was asked by some friends in the US to facilitate that procedure.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that the goal of Qatar is to achieve the stability of Afghanistan.
Position on Syria
On Qatar’s position from the Syrian revolution and accusations that it supported extremist group, he said that Qatar never did such a thing as it did not support Al Nusra Front and other groups similar to it.
At the beginning of the crisis in 2011, the Emir back when he was serving as Heir Apparent, worked on preventing bloodshed by trying to use the ties Qatar had with the Syrian regime.
Al-Attiyah added that he remembers His Highness the Father Emir sending him to regional countries to encourage them to resolve the situation in Syria peacefully in order for it not to spin out of control.
Al-Attiyah added that Qatar, after blood had been shed, focused on protecting the Syrian people who were demanding freedom and justice.
He said that Saudi Arabia was one of the allies in that regard, which shows that all the allegations made towards Qatar, were not true.
Al-Attiyah added that Qatar was on the forefront of the fight against terrorism as it is considered Enemy Number 1.
On the new military service law, al-Attiyah said that the directive of the Emir was to establish a programme that enables the Qatari citizen to garner fighting skills that would help them defend their land.
It would also help the Qatari citizen in their career.
The law was developed, presented to the Emir and the cabinet before it was referred to the Advisory council.
Al-Attiyah said that citizens must be capable of defending their home, and as such the law was established to help provide for their future needs.