Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced the isolation of Qatar as “inhumane and against Islamic values”, urging Saudi Arabia to take a leading role in resolving the ongoing crisis among Persian Gulf Arab nations.
“Qatar has showed the most decisive stance against terrorist organization Daesh alongside Turkey. Victimizing Qatar through smear campaigns serves no purpose,” he said during a parliamentary address, using the Arabic acronym for the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group, on Tuesday, Aljazeera reported.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and a number of other countries severed relations with Qatar last week, accusing it of supporting armed groups and Iran. Qatar rejects the accusations.
Erdogan said it appears that some countries had decided to hand down the death penalty to Qatar and urged Saudi Arabia to reconsider the harsh steps.
“A very grave mistake is being made in Qatar. Isolating a nation in all areas is inhumane and against Islamic values.”
Saudi Arabia has also closed its border with Qatar and it, the UAE and Bahrain have also closed their airspace to the country that heavily relies on imports of food and water, among other products.
The measures against Qatar have disrupted imports of food and other materials and caused some foreign banks to scale back business.
Qatar, which imported a vast majority of its food from bigger Arab neighbors before the diplomatic shutdown, has been cooperating with Iran and Turkey to secure food and water.
