UAE minister dismisses Qatar’s statements on GCC crisis

The UAE’s minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash has slammed the Qatari emir’s recent comments about the GCC crisis, suggesting that the conflict is not close to a resolution.

Taking to Twitter, Gargash responded to Qatar emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani’s statement at the Doha Forum, where he said that the Qatar was willing to participate in dialogue only if there was non-interference in its internal affairs”.

While the Qatari emir “refuses interference in his internal affairs, he interferes in the internal affairs of his neighbours and the countries of the region”, the UAE minister said on Twitter.

“This bears the fingerprints of the former emir, and in short, we will not see a fundamental change that allows the young leadership to manage things realistically,” he added.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut all ties with Qatar in June 2017, alleging that Doha supports terrorism. Qatar has denied the charges.

In his comments, Gargash said the Qatar “deepened its crisis of malicious targeting against Saudi Arabia recently” and played the “role of inciting Riyadh with Turkey in the Western circles and international organisations”.

“But efforts behind closed doors leak faster than Doha expects,” he added.

“It is clear that the Qatari regime understands that its citizens see their disconnection from the Gulf region as a major existential crisis and an abnormal situation. Hence Doha’s desperate attempts to reconcile without addressing the real causes of the dispute,” Gargash said.

He said Doha’s attempts to find solutions through Western capitals “have not succeeded and were not in themselves a convincing policy”.

“However, Doha, under Turkish and Iranian protection, continues to work in the same desperate pattern,” he added.

The minister also stressed that the decision of the four countries to cut ties with Doha was based on Qatar’s support for extremism and interference in their affairs.

“The measures taken by the four countries aim to prevent the country’s political and sovereign interventions and to change the country’s destructive trend, and we realize that Doha will return to its senses and its Gulf surroundings in a timely manner,” he added.

Earlier this month, Gargash also stated that the GCC remained valid despite the Qatar crisis.

Read more: UAE says GCC still strong despite Qatar row