Talk of 'real progress' in Doha-Riyadh rapprochement early: Qatari FM
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani says it was still early to talk about “real progress” with Saudi Arabia over the ongoing blockade imposed against Qatar, but the channels of communication between Doha and Riyadh are open.
“It will take time to rebuild trust between Qatar and its neighbors after two and a half years of air, sea and land blockade imposed on Doha,” Al Thani said in an interview with Qatari al-Jazeera television news network on Monday.
He added that terrorism accusations leveled by Saudi Arabia and its allies against Qatar are proved to have “no basis at all” by the international community.
“Qatar will not make any concessions that will affect our sovereignty and interfere with our domestic or foreign policy,” Al Thani pointed out.
“We (Qatar) will want to understand the grievances and we want to study and assess them, and look for the solutions that can safeguard us in the future from any other potential crisis,” the top Qatari diplomat said.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, 2017, after officially accusing it of “sponsoring terrorism.”
Libya, the Maldives, Djibouti, Senegal and the Comoros later joined the camp in ending diplomatic ties with Doha. Jordan downgraded its diplomatic relations as well.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry later announced that the decision to cut diplomatic ties was unjustified and based on false claims and assumptions.
On June 9, 2017, Qatar strongly dismissed allegations of supporting terrorism after the Saudi regime and its allies blacklisted dozens of individuals and entities purportedly associated with Doha.
Later that month, Saudi Arabia and its allies released a 13-point list of demands, including the closure of al-Jazeera television network and downgrade of relations with Iran, in return for the normalization of diplomatic relations with Doha.
The document also asked Qatar to sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement.
Qatar rejected the demands as "unreasonable."
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