Qatar dispute should be resolved by end of Ramadan: President Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

The row over Qatar should be resolved before the conclusion of the holy month of Ramadan toward the end of June, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, according to Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.“President Erdoğan stressed that this tragic event – contradicting our religion, beliefs and traditions – should be resolved before the holy month of Ramadan ends, while he also emphasized his sadness over the crisis,”Çavuşoğlu said June 10 during a joint news conference with his Bahraini counterpart, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Khalifa, in Istanbul.Çavuşoğlu also expressed his support for a peaceful solution to the Qatar row and said Turkey would continue to take “constructive” steps to resolve the crisis.“We, as Turkey, will pursue our constructive efforts to resolve this crisis because we see the stability and security in Gulf region as our own. We regard the threats against the Gulf region as they are against us,” he added.Al-Khalifa, however, said Qatar should change its policies and reach a conclusion with Bahrain.Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates accused 59 individuals and 12 charity organizations in Qatar of being “linked to terror” in a statement released on June 8.Qatar hit back on June 9 in a Foreign Ministry statement which described the accusations as “baseless” and “slanderous.”Çavuşoğlu also said no country in the Gulf region should feel threatened by Turkey’s establishment of a military base in Qatar.On June 7, Turkey’s parliament ratified two deals to deploy troops to Qatar and train the Gulf nation’s gendarmerie.The deal to deploy Turkish troops in Qatar, aimed at improving the country’s army and boosting military cooperation, was signed in April 2016 in Doha.Çavuşoğlu said the aim of the base in Qatar was to contribute to the security and stability of all Gulf countries.“This agreement does not target any country in the Gulf region,” he added.Bahrain’s FM echoed Çavuşoğlu, saying the base had been established to ensure the security of the countries in Gulf region and was not connected to the Qatar crisis.Earlier in the day, Erdoğan also received al-Khalifa at the Huber Palace.