(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said that there exists a vacuum of international order for enforcement mechanism to enable the smaller countries submit their grievances against bigger countries having an arbitration platform.
'We need to stop the power game players (in Gulf) from continuing their games and their adventures. We need to take a serious step right now to engage them in regional security dialogue and to agree on principles, all countries should adhere to. Principles which unite us and make us move towards cooperation in different areas of development, he said while addressing at Rome MED 2017 (Mediterranean Dialogues) in Rome themed 'Beyond Turmoil - A Positive Agenda.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that Qatar has always been a progressive force in the region. 'We have our differences with other Gulf states but those differences have never been put to the level of security threats and this always has been the principle and guidance for relations with other GCC countries, he said.
'We never believed or imagined that these differences will lead to such aggressive measures against Qatar and start a baseless campaign against Qatar, fabrication of cases against Qatar without solid bases, the Deputy Prime Minister said.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the current situation in our region is a regional disorder which is mainly driven by game of power, which led to power consolidation internally or regionally and all what is happening in terms of crisis in this region is part of this power game. 'The power game led to state of polarisation which is not only happening between states creating a proxy war or gave the country justification to interfere in other countries' affairs and play damaging factor for stopping the national unity agenda such as cases of happening in Libya, Iraq and Yemen.
He said now the polarisation is happening within the states using the justification of stability, and driven by leaders of those countries and this has become obstacle for any changes. 'Using justification of stability, they are refusing changes, making people start lose hope, people feel the problem will not be solved, and it has become a breeding ground for extremism for terror, and we start talking about the region spill over of this region.
He said that if we are looking at the picture from this angle, we can underline three main reasons for this power game. 'The first is absence of wisdom, impulsive and adventurous nature of leadership and the third is the vacuum of international order and the regional order for enforcement mechanism or grievance mechanism to enable the smaller countries submit their grievances against bigger countries having a platform to arbitrate whatever measures being taken against them.
He said that this is happening with Qatar, with Lebanon, Somalia and Yemen, as well in Libya and Iraq.
'This is happening while we are living in the 21st century, the era of globalisation and all thing are interwoven and thus anything happening in the Middle East influences other parts of the world such as the transnational movement of terrorism or movement of refugees.
He said that there are tactical measures which have been taken in order to address those results but we have only addressed the result without addressing the root causes for this entire phenomenon.
'In order to give the people hope, just solution for their crisis and humanitarian tragedies, and for creating positive conditions of human rights where they can practice their rights and have economic development, we need to look at the root causes. This may look dark picture for you but it is darker because of what is happening in the region and no one is moving to end this polarisation.
'We put everything at side and we talk to everybody that we need to engage in a dialogue to understand those differences. If it is a security concern, it is also a security concern for Qatar as well. The blockading countries are in mood of denial to talks and dictating what Qatar have to do so and so.
He said that all these demands are fabricated and they are 100 percent aware of that. So we need a sense of wisdom. 'Our collective security is threatened by these measures. The GCC is becoming a falling apart.
He said that Qatar is calm and behaved from the very beginning in a mature manner asking them to come to the dialogue and address their concerns in civilized way. He said that there is no end game for any country will turn into submission for another and this will never happen.
'We need to reach a level of understanding guiding security principles that everybody is agreed on, adhere to, and committed to, from where we could build on for the next step of cooperation. Bullying other smaller countries is not a solution for differences, and this is not accepted by Qatar or the international community.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that Qatar has strong relations with Turkey and we developed strategic cooperation in different fields.
'This relation is continuing for years and this relation is paying back for both countries. Turkey stood beside Qatar during this crisis, provided with line of supply which is highly appreciated by the Qatari people and the government.
On Iran, he said that Iran is a bordering country with which we share gas field, and we believe any differences could be overcome through dialogue to find solution. 'GCC as a group agreed on this in December 2016 during summit meeting. After the current crisis, the differences are there but there is a dialogue to find solution for them and we call the other GCC countries to join us and talk to Iran collectively. Iran is our single land passage under the current siege and interest of our people is our priority.
Regarding Palestine issue, he said that there is a peace process which all Arab agreed on and this is based on the border of 1967.
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