ISTANBUL - Turkey wants to support its close ally Qatar in a diplomatic crisis with its Gulf neighbors but Turkey is difficult to maneuver given its relationship with Riyadh, analysts said.
"This is the most undesirable crisis for Turkey because of its close relationship with Qatar and Saudi Arabia," said Sinan Ulgen, Chairman of the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy and guest scientist at Carnegie Europe, the AFP news agency reported Friday (9 / 6/2017).
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain led a number of countries that this week severed diplomatic ties with Qatar over allegedly funding extremist groups and ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia's main rival.
Turkey has close ties with Doha including its energy sector, and similar Middle East policies, but they also maintain good relations with other Gulf countries.
Like Qatar when they provoke Saudi anger, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also supports Islamic movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
Ankara also has good relations with Iran, whose top diplomat is in Turkey and on Wednesday discussed regional issues including the six-year Syrian conflict.
In a concerted effort not to compromise his good relationship with Saudi Arabia who was the leader of the Gulf monarchy, Turkey initially offered assistance to resolve the region's worst diplomatic crisis for years.
But Erdogan on Tuesday (6/6/2017) criticized the sanctions imposed against Doha, saying Turkey intends to develop relations with Qatar.
Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was one of the first leaders to support Erdogan after a failed coup in July 2016.
Signature support includes the most popular social media in Turkey since the beginning of the crisis including #KatarYalnizDegildir which means "Qatar is not alone".
Economic interest
In another cue of support, Turkey's parliament approved on Wednesday the deployment of troops to a Turkish base in Qatar, although there is no stipulation of the date.
Qatar and Turkey also support opposition groups in the Libyan civil war, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and also support rebels against President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.
Outside of close diplomatic relations, Ankara's position can be explained by the volume of Qatar's investment, which is estimated to be worth 1.5 billion US dollars.
Turkish companies have won contracts worth more than 13 billion dollars for construction projects in Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
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