A
deadline was extended on Monday for Qatar to accept 13 demands by several Arab
states in return for lifting a de facto blockade
Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain are cut ties with Qatar on June 5 and
issued their demands on June 22. The 10-day deadline was extended by 48 hours
at the request of the Kuwaiti emir who has been acting as mediator in the
crisis.
Here are
the key demands:
Close
Al-Jazeera
The Qatar-based
Al-Jazeera news channel has long been a source of conflict between Doha and its
neighbours, who accuse it of bias and fomenting unrest.
One of the world’s
largest news organisations, it has been repeatedly banned.
Egypt accuses it of
supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which it blames for violence after the
military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
The United Nations
said the demand to shut Al-Jazeera and “other affiliated media outlets” was “an
unacceptable attack on the right to freedom of expression and opinion”.
Quit
backing Muslim Brotherhood
The Arab countries
also demand that Doha cut ties with groups including the Muslim Brotherhood,
which Saudi Arabia and its allies blacklist as a “terrorist” organisation.
They also called on
Qatar to hand over opposition figures based in Doha.
The emirate has long
hosted exiled Brotherhood figures including the movement’s spiritual leader,
Egyptian preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and Khaled Meshaal, former head of the
Brotherhood-linked Palestinian movement Hamas.
Western governments
have concerns about the Brotherhood but have not listed it as a foreign
terrorist organisation — nor has the UN.
Close
Turkish base
Another key demand
is the closure of a Turkish military base in Qatar set to give Turkey a new
foothold in the Gulf.
Turkey sees Qatar as
its top Gulf ally but is also keen to improve relations with regional
heavyweight Saudi Arabia.
However, Turkey’s
parliament approved a troop deployment to the Qatar base just two days after
the crisis broke out.
Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the demands were “against international law”.
Downgrade
Iran ties
Riyadh and its
allies want Doha to downgrade its warm diplomatic ties with Tehran, Saudi
Arabia’s key regional rival.
They accuse Qatar of
supporting Iranian-backed groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement — a
charge Doha denies.
Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia
and Shiite-dominated Iran sit on opposing sides in conflicts in Syria and
Yemen, where Qatar was part of an alliance fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels
until the crisis broke out.
Riyadh regularly
accuses Tehran of interfering across the Middle East, linking it to instability
in the kingdom’s east, where minority Shiites lives.
But not all Riyadh’s
Gulf neighbours share its hostility towards Iran.
Oman and Kuwait
retain warm diplomatic ties with Tehran, while the UAE hosts a large Iranian
expat population and has strong commercial ties with the Islamic Republic.
Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani has said his country wants to bolster relations with Doha.
When Saudi Arabia
closed the emirate’s only land border — vital for its food imports — Iran
shipped in tons of fruits and vegetables.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/2017/07/03/key-demands-resolving-qatar-crisis/