Turkey FM welcomes end of Gulf crisis

Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu makes a speech as he attends the event of the Istanbul International Consular Society via video conference call at the Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry Headquarters, in Ankara, Turkey on November 23, 2020. [Cem Özdel – Anadolu Agency]

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry today welcomed the end of the three-year Gulf crisis, Anadolu reports.

“This step constitutes a very important step in solving the conflict ongoing since June 2017,” the ministry said in a statement, after it was announced that Saudi Arabia would lift a years long embargo on Qatar, opening its air, land and sea borders in the first steps toward ending the Gulf crisis.

“The mediation efforts of international actors, led by Kuwait, to make sure this step is taken are praiseworthy,” the statement added.

“Turkey hopes for a permanent solution and the lifting of other sanctions,” the ministry said, adding that it will support all efforts to bring this about.

Qatar’s gas investment in Turkey and the Saudi blockade

Kuwait has been mediating between Qatar and four Arab states, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, which launched an embargo on Doha in mid-2017.

The announcement of the easing of tensions came on the eve of a Gulf leaders’ summit in Saudi Arabia that will be chaired by Saudi King Salman. Qatar’s ruler Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani attended the session for the first time in three years.

Since the boycott was implemented, Turkish-Qatar ties have grown with Ankara providing Doha with numerous goods which it had previously sources from its Gulf neighbours.

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