Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah on Qatar TV talk show Al Haqiqa “The Truth” last night.
The goal of the crises since 1996 to the ongoing crisis is to undermine Qatar’s sovereignty. The differences were in tactics used by the siege counties against Qatar, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah.
“I was a witness to a number of previous crises in the region but it is the first time to see something like this. The crisis began by hacking Qatar News Agency and attributing false statement to the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. I was witness to the fact that H H didn’t speak at that event to any except to a young man Ghanem Al Moftah. There was no need for siege countries to use this as a pretext to cut ties and impose siege on Qatar” he added while talking on a Qatar TV talk show Al Haqiqa “The Truth” last night.
The Emir, since he assumed office in 2013, gave direction that he wants excellent relations with all the GCC countries in all fields whether in economic, social or politics.
However, we noticed something was strange when I received a call from a Kuwaiti Minister asking if we have any problems with any of our neighbours, because he said they received a call from a former foreign minister Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud Al Faisal asking the same question whether Qatar has any problem. We noticed that the aim was only to create a shock because H H the Emir had just assumed the power and they wanted Qatar to give up its sovereignty. But this will not happen,” Al Attiyah said. “We are afraid only of Allah and H H the Emir has confidence in his people. These countries are not only had intentions but they also had plans”. “The Arab Spring didn’t annoy Qatar but annoyed other countries, adding that Saudi Arabia has lost Qatar and Qatar didn’t lose Saudi”. Regarding the abuses by Egyptian media against Qatar, he said that those media groups were hired by countries in the GCC. Qatar has dealt with all governments of Egypt in the past and not with any other particular party. Qatar has provided a lot of support to the government of Egypt and H H the Emir’s direction was clear to help Egypt. Al Attiyah also spoke about the readiness of Qatar military. He said that the military has witnessed a lot of advancement and development, and more improvement is going on specially that the enemy is terrorism and forces must be ready all the time.
He said that the national services law was raised to Advisory Council and they are waiting it to get approval on it and it will witness some improvement. He also said that “the door of dialogue is still open and we still hope that to end the disputes through it”.
