Qatar’s emir takes Persian Gulf crisis to global audience
September 20, 2017 - Qatar's emir appeals to world leaders before meeting US President Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani used the pulpit of the UN General Assembly to attack the four neighbors that have imposed a blockade against it, accusing them of ‘terrorism’-like behavior, AL JAZEERA reported.
Sheikh Tamim also met privately with US President Donald Trump at the annual diplomatic meet in New York on Tuesday as Doha sought to win international support in its 106-day-old spat with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt.
The emir blasted the ‘unjust blockade’ as a ‘betrayal’ from his neighbors that had ultimately failed to bring ‘Qatar to its knees and to capitulate to a total tutelage to be imposed on it’.
“The blockade aimed to pressure Qataris via foodstuffs, medicine and ripping off consanguineous relations to force them change their political affiliation to destabilize a sovereign country," he said in a 22-minute address from the UN's iconic marble rostrum.
"Isn't this one of the definitions of terrorism?" Sheikh Tamim asked.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke in the same UN session after Sheikh Tamim and showed support for Qatar in a wide-ranging speech.
Erdogan called for the lifting of sanctions negatively affecting the living conditions of the Qatari people and urged the region’s ‘elder brother’ Saudi Arabia to show sincere will for the resolution of the issue.
Trump initially sided with the Saudis and called Qatar a ‘funder of terrorism’ but has since worked to broker a way out of the crisis and in his meeting with Sheikh Tamim on the sidelines of the General Assembly on Tuesday renewed his vow to help solve the crisis in the Persian Gulf.
"We are right now in a situation where we're trying to solve a problem in the Middle East and I think we'll get it solved," Trump told reporters before the meeting, adding that he has a ‘strong feeling it will be solved pretty quickly’.
Sheikh Tamim reiterated Doha's call for dialogue and thanked the US president, noting that Washington's ‘interference will help a lot’.
Sheikh Tamim was flanked by Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and other Qatari officials; the US delegation included Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Advisor HR McMaster, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and others.