RIYADH: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will arrive in Saudi Arabia on July 23 to discuss key issues including the ongoing Qatar crisis.
The Anti-Terror Quartet (ATQ) — comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain — last month cut diplomatic ties with Qatar over allegations it funds extremist groups and is allying with Iran, which has played a destabilizing role in the region.
Erdogan will also visit Qatar and Kuwait during his two-day trip, according to the Turkish Embassy in Riyadh. Kuwait has been leading mediation efforts between Qatar and the ATQ.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara that Erdogan wants to visit the Gulf region with efforts focused on a solution that suits the laws of brotherly relations.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Ankara would continue to play a “constructive and active” role to help solve the crisis.
The ATQ has issued 13 demands to restore ties including cutting funding for terrorism and shunning extremist ideology, as well as closing a Turkish military base set up after the crisis in Qatar began, which Doha has refuted.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in the Gulf last week, after a stop in Istanbul for talks aimed at defusing the crisis.
Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s state minister for foreign affairs, on Monday repeated claims that Qatar funds extremists.
“You cannot be both our friend and a friend of Al-Qaeda,” he said.
Speaking at the Chatham House international affairs think tank in London, he warned Qatar that it could not belong to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) if it undermined regional security, calling for a “change of behavior” but not “regime change.”
“This is our message: You cannot be part of a regional organization dedicated to strengthening mutual security and furthering mutual interest and at the same time undermine that security,” he said.
