Saudi, Allies Issue List of Impossible Demands

Date: 23 June 2017 - 20:42

News ID: ۴۰۹۶۸

DUBAI (Dispatches) -- Four Arab states boycotting Qatar have sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television and reducing ties to Iran, an official of one of the four countries said.
Doha's independent-minded approach, including a dovish line on Iran and support for the Muslim Brotherhood, has incensed some of its neighbors who see the support a threat to their dynastic rule.
The list, compiled by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain, which cut economic, diplomatic and travel ties to Doha on June 5, also demands the closing of a Turkish military base in Qatar, the official told Reuters.
Turkey's Defense Minister Fikri Isik rejected the demand, saying any call for the base to be shut would represent interference in Ankara's relations with Doha. He suggested instead that Turkey might bolster its presence.
Qatar must also announce it is severing ties with terrorist, ideological and resistance organizations including the Muslim Brotherhood, Daesh, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Jabhat Fateh alSham, formerly Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, the Arab official said, and surrender all designated terrorists on its territory.
The Iran provisions in the document say Qatar must shut down diplomatic posts in Iran, kick out from Qatar any members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and only conduct trade and commerce with Iran that complies with U.S. sanctions.
Qatari officials did not reply immediately to requests for comment. But on Monday, Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said Qatar would not negotiate with the four states unless they lifted their measures against Doha.
The countries give Doha 10 days to comply, failing which the list becomes "void", the official said without elaborating, suggesting the offer to end the dispute in return for the 13 steps would no longer be on the table.
"The demands are so aggressive that it makes it close to impossible to currently see a resolution of that conflict," said Olivier Jakob, a strategist at Switzerland-based oil consultancy Petromatrix.
Several Qataris who spoke to Reuters described the demands as unreasonable.
"Imagine another country demanding that CNN be closed," said 40-year-old Haseeb Mansour, who works for telecom operator Ooredoo.
Abdullah al-Muhanadi, a retired public sector shopping for groceries in Doha on Friday morning, said the boycott must be lifted before negotiations to resolve the dispute could start.
"There's a lot on the list that is simply not true or unreasonable, so how can we comply?" he said. "There are no IRGC elements in Qatar and the agreement with Turkey is a long-standing diplomatic agreement so we cannot ask them to leave."
The demands, handed to Qatar by mediator Kuwait also require that Qatar stop interfering in the four countries' domestic and foreign affairs and stop a practice of giving Qatari nationality to citizens of the four countries, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Qatar must pay reparations to these countries for any damage or costs incurred over the past few years because of Qatari policies, he added. Any resulting agreement to comply with the demands will be monitored, with monthly reports in the first year, then every three months the next year, then annually for 10 years, the official said without elaborating.
The United Arab Emirates on Friday warned of "divorce" with Qatar unless it takes the steep list of the demands seriously.
Anwar Gargash, the UAE's state minister for foreign affairs, accused Qatar of leaking the document containing the demands.
"The leakis an attempt to abort the mediation in a childish act that we have grown accustomed to from our brother," Gargash wrote on Twitter.
"It would be wiser that (Qatar) deal seriously with the demands and concerns of the neighbors or a divorce will take place," he said. The demands confirm that "the crisis is profound," Gargash added.
Qatar faces a choice of either stability and prosperity, or isolation, he said. "Perhaps the solution is in parting ways."
Qatar is a member of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.