Turkey’s Erdogan speaks to leaders in Qatar-Gulf row

TIL Desk/World/Istanbul/ Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken to key players in the dispute between Qatar and neighbouring Gulf Arab countries in efforts to find a solution, his spokesman said.

Erdogan “has initiated diplomatic efforts to resolve this dispute between friends and brothers in line with the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan,” spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in a statement late yesterday.

Erdogan has not yet commented on the crisis, in which Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Yemen, cut ties with Qatar Monday, accusing it of supporting extremism. But deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said Monday that Erdogan had already been in contact with several key players.

He spoke by phone with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. He also discussed the crisis, the biggest in the region for years, with Russian President Vladimir Putin.