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Qatari FM to meet Tillerson

27 June 2017 14:00 (UTC+04:00)
Qatari FM to meet Tillerson

By Kamila Aliyeva

Efforts to end a crisis in the Persian Gulf shifted to the U.S., as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to have a meeting with his Qatari counterpart in Washington, DC.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani's meeting with Tillerson, comes just days after Qatar dismissed a list of demands from Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Four Arab countries demand from Qatar to comply with 13 points in return for an end to a three-week-old diplomatic and trade boycott of the country.

Saudi Arabia and its allies require Qatar to cut diplomatic relations with Iran, close the Turkish military base, eliminate Al-Jazeera TV channel and extradite all persons wanted in four countries on charges of terrorism. Moreover, Doha must pay compensation, the amount of which is not specified.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, along with Egypt, cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar in early June, accusing the country of supporting "extremism" and their regional ally, Iran - charges that Qatar has repeatedly denied.

The three Arab Gulf countries also ordered Qatari nationals to leave within 14 days, while Saudi, UAE and Bahraini citizens were also given the same timeframe to leave Qatar.

They later issued a list of 59 people and 12 groups with links to Qatar, alleging that they have ties to "terrorism".

The blockade has disrupted imports of food and other materials into Qatar and caused many foreign banks to scale back their business with the country.

Doha denied allegations over its support to terrorism and extremism saying that the diplomatic rift was based on "baseless fabricated claims." Qatar expressed its readiness for a dialogue to solve the crisis and denied to take counter-action measures against its neighbors.

Kuwait is working to mediate the dispute between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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