Arab states demand that Qatar close Al Jazeera news network

Adjust Comment Print

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the 13-point list in Arabic from one of the countries involved in the dispute.

According to News Grid, Al Jazeera was cited as saying that they "condemn the demands" that their media outlet should be shut down, saying that it is "nothing short than a siege against the journalistic profession".

On June 7, the Turkish parliament approved two agreements for the deployment of Turkish troops in a Qatari base, as well as offering military training to the nation's gendarmerie forces.

"Iran has delivered good exports to Qatar to compensate for Qatar's reliance on Saudi food supplies that have been cut off", the report stated. Qatar also has to announce the termination of links with terrorists, and ideological and sectarian organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood, theIslamic State, Qaeda, and Hezbollah.

Qatari officials have yet to reply to the demands.

After the crisis erupted last week, Saudi Arabia closed Al Jazeera's bureau in Riyadh and halted its operating licence, accusing the network of promoting "terrorist groups" in the region.

Qatar has 10 days to comply with all of the demands, which include paying an unspecified sum in compensation.

Gargash argued that the "crisis is real" and is being ignited by the "confused" administration of Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

"We cannot expect an end to the crisis, solutions are not yet developed and the countries besieged Qatar have not provided any clear reasons for the steps they have taken", he said.

Putin jokes about offering political asylum to Comey
One caller, who claimed to be an American man in Arizona, asked Putin about "racist Russophobia" in the United States . We've got more newsletters we think you'll find interesting. "And there is surely their interference there".

However, if Iraq openly opposed the presence of the Turkish servicemen, then Qatar itself called Turkey for establishing a military base in its territory.

Isik said Ankara had hoped that tensions over Qatar could be resolved without a crisis.

The Emirati State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammed Gargash, in a post published on Twitter social network on Friday, accused Qatar of leaking a document containing the demands by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain.

"They know terrorism poses just as much of a threat to Qatar as it does to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and every other nation", Sheikh Meshal wrote.

The demands, the official said, was handed to Qatar by mediator Kuwait.

Earlier this week, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that Washington was "mystified" by the failure of Saudi Arabia and its allies to justify the ongoing isolation of Qatar, a key US partner in the fight against ISIS.

"Strengthening the Turkish base would be a positive step in terms of the Gulf's security", he said. Does Saudi Arabia really care about Qatar's tightrope walk relationship with Iran, which it shares a big gas field with?

"This open-door policy allows us to intercede on behalf of governments, such as the United States, that from time to time need to engage but have no communication channels of their own".

"They are impossible to be met because they interfere in Qatar's foreign policy and Qatar considers its foreign policy a sovereign matter that is nonnegotiable, he said".

Comments