Germany praises Qatar's "restraint", urges its neighbours to respond

Record ID: 898044

  • Title: Germany praises Qatar's "restraint", urges its neighbours to respond
  • Date: 4th July 2017
  • Summary: DOHA, QATAR (JULY 4, 2017) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** GERMAN AND QATARI FOREIGN MINISTERS ENTERING ROOM VARIOUS OF GERMANY FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, SIGMAR GABRIEL, SAYING: "Qatar has of course not said: 'Yes, that's all true. We accept it'. Rather they have explained that Qatar holds a differing position. But Qatar has not undertaken retaliatory measures, has not deliberated over how to stage a similar attack on the other states, neither economically nor politically. Rather they have, from the first instance, tried to call for dialogue." MEDIA CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, SIGMAR GABRIEL, SAYING: "It would be good if all the interested parties would take up the offer of dialogue from the international community. That doesn't mean that a quick solution will be found. It doesn't mean that a quick agreement will be found. It means that there can be a constructive debate about which of the accusations are justified and which not. What things can be changed? What things do people not want to change? I think this would be a good solution." MEDIA CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, SIGMAR GABRIEL, SAYING: "We hope that the efforts of Qatar in recent weeks to not escalate the conflict will be responded to in a similar spirit. I think that the solution in the end will be, perhaps with international involvement, to take part in seriously-intentioned dialogue about what can be changed about the whole situation and how the conflict could be ended with respect to each party. At any rate, my experience is that these sorts of conflict can only be resolved at the negotiating table. They cannot be solved through an escalated confrontation." BANNER READING IN ENGLISH "STATE OF QATAR MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS" CAMERMAN AT MEDIA CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) QATARI FOREIGN MINISTER SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL-THANI SAYING: "Yesterday we delivered the response which was already scheduled with his highness the Prince of Kuwait, the response came in the general situation of principles of preserving and respecting sovereignty of countries and not interfering at any internal affairs of any country according to international law and we can't talk in details about it, because it's now in the care of Kuwait and they are the only authorised to speak about its details." JOURNALIST TYPING ON HIS LAPTOP HANDS TYPING ON LAPTOP (SOUNDBITE) (English) QATARI FOREIGN MINISTER SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL-THANI SAYING: "As I have mentioned earlier regarding this list of demands, we have been saying several times, and not us only actually, the State of Department has mentioned this and the Secretary of State has mentioned this, any set of demands should be realistic and actionable and what we have seen is that the list is unrealistic and cannot be actioned, and I'm not talking about terrorism. I am mainly talking about shutting freedom of speech, infringing the sovereignty of the country, interfering in its affairs. There are a lot of items which any country could find offensive within the international law and the international norms. The state of Qatar has adopted a very constructive attitude since the crisis. We tried to act in a mature and responsible manner rather than doing any irresponsible acts as the act of aggressors who launched an aggression against my country." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT MEDIA CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 18th July 2017 21:34
  • Keywords: Gulf diplomatic row German foreign minister Doha media conference Sigmar Gabriel Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani
  • Location: DOHA, QATAR
  • City: DOHA, QATAR
  • Country: Qatar
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016OAZUPZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Qatar has shown restraint in responding to the diplomatic and economic blockade it has faced from Arab neighbours in recent weeks, and its neighbours should respond in a similar spirit, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Tuesday (July 4).
    Concluding his whistle-stop tour of the Gulf region, Gabriel said Germany and Europe were prepared to help set up the kinds of international resolution mechanisms that were needed to foster dialogue, since Germany had a strong interest in the region and wanted to see its supply chains protected.
    "Qatar has not undertaken retaliatory measures, has not deliberated over how to stage a similar attack on the other states, neither economically nor politically. Rather they have, from the first instance, tried to call for dialogue," Gabriel told reporters at a news conference with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
    "It would be good if all the interested parties would take up the offer of dialogue from the international community," he added.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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