Egypt: Gulf siege against Qatar should include Turkey

The Egyptian president has called on allies in the Gulf to escalate the diplomatic row with Qatar to include Turkey, the New Arab reported.

According to the news outlet, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi urged Gulf leaders to expand their boycott until Ankara gives up support for Qatar. He is reported to have said that this would maintain the pressure on Doha to respond positively and help bring a speedy end to the regional siege.

The sources said that Al-Sisi raised the matter during a meeting with the King of Bahrain, Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, last Thursday in Cairo. They added that Al-Sisi pushed for the escalation of the Arab campaign and accused Turkey of funding and hosting groups classified as “terrorist” such as the Muslim Brotherhood or organisations in Syria.

According to the news outlet, Al-Sisi has not received a response to his suggestion. The sources pointed out that the Gulf countries were keen; however, to at least neutralise Turkey from assisting Qatar in the crisis.

After his visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the King of Bahrain sent his Foreign Minister, Khalid Bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, to Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an attempt to ease the conflict – especially in light of the agreement by Ankara to send Turkish troops to Doha.

Egypt’s desire to escalate the matter with Turkey follows Erdogan’s sharp criticisms of the current Egyptian regime since the overthrow of the first democratically elected President, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in a military coup.

Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, who is scheduled to visit Qatar today, said that his government aimed to protect the security of the region as a whole not just a particular country and he added that he hoped the dispute with Qatar would be resolved before the end of Ramadan.

Source