Qatar expected to weaken its relations with Turkey and Iran

Eşref Ebu Hol, the Editor-in-Chief of the Ihram newspaper, evaluated the agreement – known as the Al-Ula Agreement – between Qatar and four Arab states for Hawar News Agency.

Eşref Ebu Hol stated that Qatar would remove the Muslim Brotherhood from its borders in order to comply with the agreement and observed that the United States did not approve of the close relations between Qatar and Iran and Turkey. The leaders from Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt, signed an agreement with Qatar on 5 January, ending three and a half years of impasse and restoring ties between the Arabian Gulf neighbours.

The leaders of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had previously stated that the Al-Ula agreement aimed to strengthen unity and cohesion amongst members and ensure “the return of joint Gulf action to its normal course”.

Ebu Hol: The success of the agreement will depend upon two factors

Eşref Ebu Hol concluded that the success of the agreement will depend upon two factors: “One is that close relations between Qatar and Turkey and Iran should be weakened and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood over the Qatar media should be ended. This will take time. Secondly, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are countries that have clarified that they will not participate in any agreement unless they are given a guarantee by the Doha administration about these issues”.

The US government has expectations

“The United States will probably expect the close relations between Qatar and Turkey and Iran to be ended, considering the fact that Iran benefited from Qatar’s boycott of the four countries. Then again, the US will probably not accept Iran having bigger military bases in the region compared with itself”, Ebu Hol noted. “Therefore, it is expected that Doha will weaken its financial relations with Tehran. It has already opened up its air space for Saudi Arabia. Turkey needs to reduce its military assets in Qatar and the support given to Turkey due to the financial crisis it is experiencing should also be cut”.

Eşref Ebu Hol: Qatar ‘can make compromises regarding the closure of Al Jazeera TV’

Eşref Ebu Hol also stated that Qatar is expected to keep the Muslim Brotherhood away from its territory: “Qatar may remove the Muslim Brotherhood from the country. It can make compromises regarding the closure of Al Jazeera TV and it can do this on the condition that the TV channel stops broadcasting against the four Arab countries”, he stated.