Cutting defense ties with Turkey illegal: Qatar

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Cutting Qatar’s defense ties with Turkey is an “obvious intervention of internal affairs,” Qatar’s ambassador to Ankara said Aug. 19.   

“This is against all international laws and norms,” Salem bin Mubarak Al-Shafi said in a written statement about demands to close the Turkish base.        

“The closure of this base and demanding our defense relations with Turkey be interrupted would be an obvious intervention of our internal affairs, infringement of our sovereignty rights, and the assumption of tutelage over us,” he said.  
      
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar in June and imposed a sea and land blockade, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.        

The four countries presented a list of demands to Qatar to end the blockade, including the closure of the Al Jazeera television network and the Turkish base in Doha. The group threatened additional sanctions if the demands were not met.        

Doha denies the accusations of terrorism and says the blockade is a violation of international law.        

“The Qatari state is an active member in all platforms for combating terrorism politically, financially, and militarily. The same goes for the international coalition led by the United States in the fight against Daesh,” Al-Shafi said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

“We cannot enter dialogue on our sovereignty, our independence, and anything that touches our free decision,” he said.