Turkey's Erdogan, World Leaders Hold Phone Talks to Discuss Qatar Row
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday held phone calls with leaders of several Muslim and Western countries in a bid to find a solution to the diplomatic row between Qatar and five Arab states, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said.
Earlier in the day, Saudi Arabia, alongside Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar amid a row over the latter’s alleged support of terrorism. The initiative was later joined by the Maldives. All the countries involved in this diplomatic row, apart from the Maldives, are Arab League member states, Sputnik reported.
"Our President, as the current head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, got actively involved in this [Qatar row] by having phone calls with both some Islamic countries and some Western countries, to resolve the issue," Kurtulmus said as quoted by the Anadolu news agency.
The Kremlin press service said earlier in the day Russian President Vladimir Putin and Erdogan discussed the situation in a phone call, urging all involved sides to engage in a dialogue to "develop compromise solutions in the interest of preserving peace and stability in the Persian Gulf region."
