Arab states demand Qatar to cut military ties with Turkey

Four Arab states boycotting Qatar over alleged support for terrorism have sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing of a Turkish military base in Qatar and reducing ties to their regional adversary Iran, an official of one of the four countries said.

The demands aimed at ending the worst Gulf Arab crisis in years appear designed to quash a two decade-old foreign policy in which Qatar has punched well above its weight, striding the stage as a peace broker, often in conflicts in Muslim lands.

"Immediately terminate the Turkish military presence currently in Qatar and end any joint military cooperation with Turkey inside of Qatar," the list read, according to the Associated Press.

Turkey has backed Qatar during the three-week-old crisis. It sent its first ship carrying food aid to Qatar and dispatched a small contingent of soldiers and armored vehicles there on June 22, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke with Saudi Arabia's leaders on calming tension in the region.

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 Al Jazeera television and its affiliate stations.

Qatar must also announce it is severing ties with terrorist, ideological and sectarian organizations including the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, he said,  and surrender all designated terrorists on its territory, 
The four Arab countries accuse Qatar of funding terrorism, fomenting regional instability and cozying up to revolutionary theocracy Iran. Qatar has denied the accusations.

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