Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel have reaffirmed that dialogue and sitting down to negotiations is the only option to resolve any crisis or political dispute between countries. “Qatar has been in favour of dialogue to resolve the dispute since the beginning of this crisis”, said Foreign Minister.
“We have repeatedly urged for dialogue, but this must be within a clear framework of respecting sovereignty and not by threatening or interfering in internal affairs of any country” he added. “Qatar has adopted a very constructive attitude since the beginning of the crisis. We are trying to act mature and discuss the matter,” the Minister told a joint press conference with his German counterpart, at Sheraton Doha.
“Qatar is committed to ‘fighting terrorism’ and it takes the issue of combating terrorism as a top of priority because it is an issue of national security for Qatar and the entire region. However, the unjust siege imposed by the other states under the pretext of combating terrorism is totally false and fabricated,” he said. “The siege imposing countries have used ‘support of terrorism’ as cover because they thought that the international community would be more sympathetic with their allegation while the agenda is different,” he said.
The Minister added that Qatar’s efforts to combat terrorism go beyond the global mechanism which the country is committed to, through provision of employment for over 300,000 people in North Africa and education for around seven million in 42 countries. Combating terror does not only include fighting through weapons but these are also part of the efforts to fight terror by addressing the root causes, he stressed.
On the statement by the UAE minister who said “enough support for terrorism” in reference to Qatar, Shiekh Mohammed said:
“There is enough slander, falsehood and fabrication of information against Qatar to distort its image but by doing this they are also distorting and maligning the reputation of Islam and the Islamic civilization” responding to earlier statement made by UAE’s foreign minister, who said it was enough supporting terrorism.
“The list is unrealistic and is not actionable and is not about terrorism, we have submitted our response the Kuwait” he said refusing to disclose any information about the contents of Qatar’s official reply to the demands.
Germany has taken from the first moment of the crisis a fair stance towards the illegal measures taking against Qatar said Sheikh Mohammed, thanking Germany for its efforts to settle this crisis.
Qatar-German relations date back to decades and there are economic partnership between the two states, as Qatar has investments in German and there are many German’s companies operating here.
For his part Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s foreign minister, has said that “Qatar has shown restraint in reacting to the blockade and we hope others will respond in a similar spirit.”
Qatar’s sovereignty must be respected, praising the Gulf country’s ‘restraint’ in responding to a blockade imposed by Arab states amid the worst regional diplomatic crisis in years, he added.
“There are boundaries that you should not cross, that the sovereignty of each of country and the respect of this national sovereignty has to be there,” Gabriel told reporters during the last stop of a tour of the Gulf region, in the latest diplomatic effort to end the standoff.
Gabriel said European countries including Germany were aware about some Gulf countries which were supporting and funding operations and terrorist organisations like Al Qaada, Al Nusra Front, not governments but through individuals and corporations and this has created much problems for the region.
He pointed out that Arab World constitute 5 percent of World population but 60 percent of the refugees in the world are from Arab countries, and 50 percent of the world’s weapons exist in Arab region. Adding that these figures reflects a big problem and governments in the Gulf countires need to work together to address such challenges.
“We have to give hopes to the youth in Syria, Yemen and Libya to plan for their future, because there are people lost their hopes and this is basic source of terrorism,” German Foreign Minister stressed.
“It has to be a basic condition and when that is there, even the most difficult questions can be talked about,” he added.
Gabriel told reporters in Doha that whilet Germany was not going to take any sides in this dispute, it was commending Qatar’s attitude towards the crisis.
“We clearly share the view that any form of financing of terrorism or extremism and the sheltering of extremists must end. We are of the same view that this affects the entire region and that there is now the chance in this crisis for the whole region to reach results,” he told reporters, before adding that the matter was not about “questioning Qatar’s integrity or sovereignty”.
“This is for us, Europeans, a very important matter, because the Gulf Cooperation Council is for us the guarantor of stability and security in the region,” Gabriel added.