Doha - Qatar will reject a series of demands made by several other Arab states, its foreign minister said on Saturday, adding that their ultimatum was aimed not at tackling terrorism but at curtailing his country’s sovereignty.
But Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, speaking to reporters in Rome, said Doha remained ready to sit down and discuss the grievances raised by its Arab neighbors.
The comments came ahead of a deadline set by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt for Doha to accept 13 demands. Officials say they are aimed at ending a rift that erupted last month over accusations that Qatar supports terrorism, charges it denies.
“This list of demands is to be rejected, not to be accepted. We are willing to engage in dialogue but under proper conditions,” he said.
The demands included severing ties with terrorist groups, closing down the pan-Arab Al Jazeera satellite channel, downgrading ties with arch-rival Iran and closing a Turkish air base in Qatar.
Arab states have said the demands are not negotiable and warned that further unspecified measures will follow if Qatar does not comply.
Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar would not close down the Turkish base in his country or shut Al Jazeera as demanded by the Arab countries.
He spoke after arriving in Rome from the United States. Washington is helping Kuwait, which has retained ties with Qatar, to mediate in the dispute.
Earlier on Saturday, the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had separate telephone discussions with the leaders of Qatar and Bahrain about the rift and stressed the need for a diplomatic solution.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had telephone discussions with the leaders of Qatar and Bahrain, stressing the need for diplomacy to end the dispute between Qatar and several other Arab states, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed ties with Qatar last month, accusing it of supporting terrorism and opening up the worst rift in years among some of the most powerful states in the Arab world.
Moscow is trying to tread cautiously in the dispute, since it wants good relations with both Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Russia backs President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year-long Syria conflict and is close to Iran, which has fraught ties with the Saudis. Moscow sold a stake in its state oil champion Rosneft to Qatar last year and has been coordinating oil output cuts with the Saudis as part of a global pact to lift oil prices.
The Kremlin, which announced the phone calls with the leaders of Qatar and Bahrain in two separate statements on its website on Saturday, did not say when they happened.
It clarified that they happened on the initiative of Qatar and Bahrain.
“Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of political-diplomatic efforts aimed at overcoming differences of opinion and the normalisation of the difficult situation that exists,” said the statement on the talks between Putin and Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
The Russian and Qatari leaders also discussed cooperation between their countries in energy and investment.
Putin told Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa that there should be direct dialogue between all sides of the dispute with Qatar. The Kremlin said last month that it was in Russia’s interest for there to be a “stable and peaceful” situation in the Gulf.
Turkey on Friday said the rights of Qatar must be respected as it hosted the defence minister of Ankara’s main Gulf ally which has been left isolated by Saudi-led sanctions.
Khaled bin Mohammed al-Attiyah met with Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik at the defence ministry in Ankara, the state-run news agency Anadolu said on Thursday.
The meeting came as Ankara, which has stood by Doha throughout the crisis, resists pressure to shutter a Turkish military base on the emirate that Qatar’s neighbours want to see closed.
In the talks, Isik said that “the current issues between the (Gulf) countries, who are brothers, must be resolved soon on the basis of a sincere dialogue and respect for Qatar’s rights.”
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain announced on June 5 the suspension of political, economic and diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremist groups.
Doha denies the claims. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the allegations are baseless and offered Ankara’s full support.
Turkey has provided food and other aid through hundreds of planes and a cargo ship, although Ankara’s attempts to mediate between the sides have so far come to nothing.
Crucially, Ankara is also setting up a military base on the emirate that is set to give Turkey a new foothold in the Gulf, sending in a first deployment of two dozen troops.
Last week Riyadh and its allies issued 13 demands to Qatar for resolving the crisis, including the closure of the Turkish military base and the Doha-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera.
Erdogan hit back at the Saudi-led demands, saying the sweeping demands were “against international law” and saying that asking for the withdrawal of Turkish troops was a “disrespect to Turkey.”
Yet Ankara has also been careful not to directly criticise Riyadh and previously urged the kingdom to lead attempts to solve the crisis.
US President Donald Trump spoke with Erdogan on Friday by telephone on the crisis, the White House and Turkish presidency said.