Aktay: Gulf crisis is an effort to ignite a civil war in the region

The spokesman for the Justice and Development Party of Turkey, Yasin Aktay, has said that the move by Gulf countries to cut ties with Qatar aims to ignite an Islamic civil war, although he noted that Riyadh does not realise this.

Aktay quoted a statement by the editor of the Turkish newspaper Yeni Shafak, Ibrahim Karagul, that there is “a plan for an Islamic civil war” in the region, which has been “progressing step by step over the last two years”.

Aktay wrote in an article published in Yeni Shafak: “In recent years, there have been preparations for this master plan. We see an impending disaster approaching…if there is no urgent intervention.”

The senior AKP leader commented:

The reactions by important and influential players in the Islamic world against the Zionist occupation and its attacks are very minimal and becoming weaker day by day, while these forces quickly united against Qatar. This gives rise to huge disappointment regarding the nature and very existence of the Muslim world.

He added: “This disappointment encourages the enemies of Islam and tells them that all plans against Islam can be easily implemented.”

Read: The target is not Qatar but Saudi Arabia 

Aktay also argued that Saudi Arabia’s classification of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood as “terrorists” aims to punish Qatar for supporting these groups and “presses the launch button [on the project to provoke an Islamic civil war], which would harm Saudi Arabia before any other country.”

Aktay said that Saudi Arabia is probably unaware of “the impending dangers, while Turkey is aware of all of its details and warns others against it.” He also added that “the dangers that threaten Makkah and Medina can be seen more clearly from the Turkish side. When Turkey sees these dangers, it will not stand idly by.”

#QatarGate

In Aktay’s view, to defend Qatar “is to defend the Muslim world, and in particular to defend the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia… Defending Qatar does not mean standing against Saudi Arabia or favouring one party over the other in the Gulf crisis. However, it is clear that there is a trap that seeks to harm all parties without exception, and especially Saudi Arabia, first and foremost.”

There is a growing trend in the United States towards linking terrorism with Islam, whether moderate Islam or non-moderate Islam. This approach says that the real direct source of terrorism is Islam, and the Quran in particular.

“Those who adopt this approach are the same people who are currently dragging the Islamic world towards instability. The best evidence of this is the violence and the atmosphere of war they have ignited and the operations they have carried out via terrorist organisations they backed.”

Aktay called on Muslim countries to “unify their ranks and seek ways to ward off the threats that threaten us. Since Saudi Arabia hosts the two holiest Islamic cities and is considered the heart of the Muslim world, it is required to be more responsible in the current climate of instability and to embrace all Muslims, regardless of their sectarian and ethnic differences.”