Meet demands: Quartet to Qatar

Riyadh : The Arab Quartet boycotting Qatar over its support for terrorism have said Doha must fulfil the demands presented to it last year before ties can be normalised. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt reiterated their stance on at a meeting of foreign ministers in Riyadh on Thursday that also discussed Iran’s interference in Arab states. 

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash chaired the meeting. Bahrain was represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa. 

The list of 13 demands includes Qatar closing Al Jazeera television, reducing its relations with Iran and closing a Turkish military base in the country. The list was presented to Qatar last June, shortly after the boycott was imposed. The Arab Quartet meeting was held on the sidelines of an Arab League foreign ministers meeting to prepare for the group’s 29th summit in Dammam on Sunday. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said the issue of Palestine would be top of the agenda for the summit, which will also discuss other regional concerns such as the conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya. However, the issue of Qatar will not be discussed, Al Jubeir said.

“The solution of Qatar will be within the GCC,” he said. Mediation efforts by Kuwait, have not succeeded so far. The United States has also pressed for a resolution to the crisis, which affects its key allies in the region.

The Quartet ministers said Qatar would also have to agree to the six principles laid out at a meeting of Cairo last July, which include commitment to fighting extremism, preventing incitement of hatred and non-interference in the affairs of other states.