Turkey can't afford to take sides in Qatar crisis
A rattled Ankara is trying to keep to the middle ground in the crisis around its ally Qatar, but its soft calls for dialogue are unlikely to have much impact.
The political earthquake in the Gulf took Turkey by surprise, even as many observers argued that the crisis was foreseeable. Ankara finds itself caught in the middle of another bewildering regional dispute not of its making but likely to have negative implications for it.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to work the phones to try to defuse the crisis. Among those he talked to were Russian President Vladimir Putin, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, and the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait.
"The importance of regional peace and stability was underlined in the talks, as well as the importance of focusing on the path of diplomacy and dialogue to lower the current tension," a presidential source later told the press.
His efforts are expected to bear few results, though, given the animosity toward Qatar among the countries that have fallen in line behind Saudi Arabia and Egypt and appear determined to politically and economically isolate Qatar on the grounds that it aids Islamic terrorism and leans toward Iran.
