Turkish FM urges peace, dialogue in Gulf crises

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Wednesday the crisis between Qatar and some Arab countries should be resolved “through peace and dialogue”.

Speaking to Agency during his visit to Qatar’s capital, Doha, amid a diplomatic row in the Gulf region, Çavuşoğlu said the efforts by Turkey so far and the future steps to be taken were discussed during his meetings with several top Qatari officials.

Accompanied by Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekçi, Çavuşoğlu met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Economy and Trade Minister Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim al-Thani.

"The situation we have been going through in this [holy month of] Ramadan is a really undesired one. There is such a crisis between sister countries and there are some steps that directly affect people. We must absolutely overcome it. We need to overcome it through peace and dialogue,” Çavuşoğlu said, underlining that Turkey was contributing to the peace process.

Çavusoğlu also said he would visit Kuwait later Wednesday and meet Saudi Arabian king Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud on Friday in Mecca.

Last week, five Arab countries -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen -- cut off ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.

Qatar, for its part, has denied the accusations, calling the moves to diplomatically isolate it “unjustified”.

Ankara has said that it stands with the tiny Gulf state against sanctions and has urged Riyadh to take the lead in finding a solution to the crisis.