REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DOHA - Qatar will not negotiate with its neighbours to resolve the Gulf diplomatic dispute unless they first lift the trade and travel boycott they imposed two weeks ago, its foreign minister said.
The United Arab Emirates, which along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain imposed the measures to isolate Qatar, said the sanctions could last for years unless Doha accepts demands which the Arab powers plan to reveal in coming days.
Qatar denies accusations by its neighbours that it funds terrorism, foments regional instability or has cosied up to their enemy Iran. The dispute has opened a rift among some of the main U.S. allies in the Middle East, with President Donald Trump backing tough measures against Qatar even as his State Department and Defense Department have sought to remain neutral.
On Monday Qatar held war games with Turkish troops, showing off one of its few remaining strong alliances after two weeks of unprecedented isolation.
Qatar would not negotiate with its neighbours as long as it faced a "blockade", Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said.
"They have to lift the blockade to start negotiations," he told reporters. "Until now we didn't see any progress about lifting the blockade, which is the precondition for anything to move forward." The countries that have imposed the sanctions deny they amount to a blockade.
Thani spoke after UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said those seeking to isolate Qatar had no intention of backing down unless their demands are met.
"Qatar will realise that this is a new state of affairs and isolation can last years," Gargash told a small group of reporters in Paris on Monday.
"If they want to be isolated because of their perverted view of what their political role is, then let them be isolated. They are still in a phase of denial and anger," he said, adding that a list of grievances for Qatar to address would be completed in the next days.
Qatar has relished support from Turkey during the dispute. Its state-funded pan-Arab Al Jazeera news channel showed footage of a column of armoured personnel carriers flying the Turkish flag inside the Tariq bin Ziyad military base in Doha.
It reported that additional Turkish troops had arrived in Qatar on Sunday for the exercises, although military sources in the region told Reuters the operation actually involved Turkish troops that were already present rather than new arrivals.
The dispute is a major test for the United States, which is close allies with the countries on both sides and which houses the headquarters of its air power in the Middle East at an air base in Qatar.
Washington has sent mixed signals despite Trump's firm personal backing for the sanctions: Trump called Qatar a "funder of terrorism at a very high level", but five days later his Pentagon approved selling Qatar $12 billion of warplanes.
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