Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Shoukry: Arab Quartet Rejects Any Compromise With Qatar | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55379615
Caption:

Sameh Shoukry at a press conference in Berlin in January 2016 (Axel Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)


Brussels, Ankara- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry informed the European Union on Tuesday that the four Arab States that cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar in June would not accept any compromise.

After talks with EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels, Shoukry said Doha must accept demands issued by Egypt, Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to end the dispute.

“It is not an issue of compromise, we cannot compromise with any form of terrorism, we cannot compromise or enter into any form of negotiation,” Shoukry was quoted as saying by AFP.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister added that “the crisis will be resolved only when Qatar truly accepts being a partner in the fight against terrorism.”

For her part, Mogherini reiterated what she said last Sunday during talks with Kuwait’s Emir who is currently acting as a mediator to solve the crisis with Doha.

She called on all parties to hold talks and solve the diplomatic crisis, saying “it is of paramount importance that a process of engagement, of dialogue under the mediation efforts of his highness the Emir of Kuwait, can start and should start as a matter of urgency.”

Mogherini added that Europe sees this as a need not just for one country, but for all countries.

“It is correct not to refer to these tensions as a Gulf crisis because the presence of Egypt among the four countries that are at the center of it together with Qatar demonstrates that this is going far beyond the Gulf,” the foreign policy chief said.

She also said that Europe has a clear commitment to fighting terrorism in an effective manner.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Tuesday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described his trip to the Gulf to deal with the Qatar crisis as “productive and successful”, following two days of talks that appeared to yield no immediate progress towards healing the rift.