Weighing in on the ongoing Gulf State/Qatar crisis, German media is reporting that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the embargo imposed on Qatar “un-Islamic.” According to a Deutsche Welle report:
June 13, 2017 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed several Arab countries for economically and politically isolating Qatar, branding their actions as inhumane and un-Islamic.
‘It is neither humane nor Islamic to totally isolate a country’s people,’ Erdogan told a gathering of lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party in Ankara.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar last week, accusing it of supporting ‘terrorism,’ destabilizing the region and having close ties with Iran.
An embargo has also cut off food, transport and other links between the four countries and Qatar, which typically imports around 80 percent of its food from its neighbors.
Qatar denies allegations it supports terrorism and has vowed to not give up its independent foreign policy.
Erdogan dubbed the Saudi-led actions as tantamount to a ‘death penalty’ imposed on Qatar, which he said was the target of a defamation campaign.
The crisis has put Turkey in a difficult position as it views Qatar as one of its chief allies in the region, but Ankara also seeks to avoid damaging relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.
Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia’s king as the leader of the region to resolve the impasse.
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In February 2017, the GMBDW reported that Erdogan had defended the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the face of what wasdescribed as international pressure to designation the organization as a terrorist group.
A 2011 report report authored by the GMBDW editor concluded that since 2006, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood. That report also detailed President Erdogan’s ideological ties to the Global Muslim Brotherhood network and that date back to Erdogan’s affiliation in the 1970s with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi charity with known connections to extremist and terrorist groups.
On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region with its support for Islamist groups.