Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Qatar, a small country with huge ambitions, has been acting as a mediator in resolving a number of conflicts in the Arab world for many years.
Qatar acted as a mediator in the settlement of conflicts in Western Sahara and Yemen, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sudan and Lebanon.
Doha has also become one of the main mediators in the inter-Palestinian conflict between the Palestinian FATAH and HAMAS factions. This political and diplomatic activity of Qatar was strengthened through huge funds.
None of the Arab countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, pursued a mediation policy in the region.
Qatar is also a member of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf which includes the above-mentioned countries except Egypt.
The UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya have recently broken off diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing it of fueling terrorism, as well as backing Iran, which supports the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
Qatar is also part of the Arab coalition against Ansarullah movement.
A new conflict between Qatar and its neighbors in the region occurred a week after the summit of the Persian Gulf countries and the US in Riyadh.
The conflict occurred after the Qatari ruling emir’s appeal for establishing the relations with Iran was published on the website of the country’s state-run news agency.
Later the Qatari foreign ministry said that hackers allegedly broke into the website of the country’s state-run news agency and published a fake story quoting the ruling emir making controversial comments. However, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain found this refutation unconvincing.
Here a reasonable question arises. Why should Qatar support Ansarullah movement, which poses a threat to the national interests of the country?
Qatar’s foreign ministry has already issued a statement that the decisions of the Arab Quartet cause Doha’s regret.
"The decision of breaking off diplomatic relations with Qatar is unfounded and unfair," Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a message.
The UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia already broke diplomatic relations with Qatar in 2014.
It seems that a number of Arab countries have been looking for reasons for severing relations with Qatar for a long time.
In fact, the ruling emir’s appeal concerning Iran was not the reason for severing relations with Qatar. There is another point. It is Doha’s loyal attitude to Muslim Brotherhood organization, having a new "underground period" in the Six Arab countries, especially in Egypt.
Egypt urged Qatar to extradite Islamic theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi in 2014, who is considered as one of the ideological mentors of Muslim Brotherhood organization. But Qatar rejected Egypt’s appeal.
Saudi Arabia also considers the Muslim Brotherhood politically developed organization as a dangerous competitor. As there is no domestic political alternative in Saudi Arabia, Muslim Brotherhood’s activity can lead to serious political unrest in this country.
As for Bahrain, it has no choice in this issue because Saudi Arabia has great impact on Bahrain’s foreign policy after the battle for Bahrain in Iranian-Saudi Arabian rivalry.
As for the UAE, this country included Muslim Brotherhood in the list of terrorist organizations in 2014.
A trial was held in the UAE in 2013 over the Muslim Brotherhood members. The verdicts of guilty were announced for 69 people. All of them were accused of trying to destroy the constitutional order.
As for Yemen and Libya, these two countries lost their political authority amid internal military clashes.
Thus, there is no doubt that the Six Arab nations severed relations with Qatar in connection with Muslim Brotherhood organization.
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