The State of Qatar has received a list of 13 demands from Saudi-led bloc of Arab countries effectively asking the peninsula to give up its sovereignty.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations demand Doha scale down on its ties with Iran, close a Turkish military base, severe ties with terrorist organizations and shut down most news sites, including the state run Al Jazeera Media Network, which Qatar has promised will never happen.
Aljazeera reports: The list was received by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 22, according to a report by the state-run Qatar News Agency.
“This list of demands confirms what Qatar has said from the beginning – the illegal blockade has nothing to do with combating terrorism, it is about limiting Qatar’s sovereignty, and outsourcing our foreign policy,” Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al Thani, director of the Qatari government’s communications office, said in a statement on Friday.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
“The US secretary of state recently called upon the blockading nations to produce a list of grievances that was ‘reasonable and actionable’. The British foreign secretary asked that the demands be ‘measured and realistic.’ This list does not satisfy that criteria.”
Qatar also said it is reviewing the demands and is preparing an official response after confirming the receipt of a document containing demands from several Arab countries that cut ties with it and imposed a blockade against it earlier this month amid a major diplomatic crisis.
“The state of Qatar is currently studying this paper, the demands contained therein and the foundations on which they were based, in order to prepare an appropriate response to it and hand it over to the state of Kuwait,” QNA said, citing a statement by the ministry of foreign affairs.
Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar’s ambassador to the US, also criticised the list of demands.
The list of demands circulated in media clearly indicates that this dispute is not about our neighbors false terrorism allegations 1/2
— Meshal Hamad AlThani (@Amb_AlThani) June 23, 2017
The list is an attempt to suppress free media & freedom of speech. And infringe upon our sovereignty & punish Qatar for its independence.2/2
— Meshal Hamad AlThani (@Amb_AlThani) June 23, 2017
List of demands
Kuwait has been acting as a mediator to defuse the crisis that erupted on June 5 when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt announced they were severing relations with Qatar, accusing it of supporting “terrorism”.
The four countries have not provided any evidence, and Qatar has repeatedly denied the allegations as baseless.
Earlier on Friday, reports emerged that the Saudi-led bloc had given Qatar 10 days to comply with 13 demands, which included shutting down the Al Jazeera Media Network, closing a Turkish military base and scaling down ties with Iran.
In the document, the countries also demanded that Qatar severs all alleged ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and with other groups, including Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.
The document also states that Qatar must consent to monthly compliance audits in the first year after agreeing to the demands, followed by quarterly audits in the second year, and annual audits in the following 10 years.
The list also includes a demand that Qatar pay reparations and compensation for loss of life and other financial losses allegedly caused by Qatar’s policies in recent years.
The document did not specify what the countries will do if Qatar refuses to comply.
READ MORE: Arab states issue list of demands to end Qatar crisis
