14 June 2017•Update: 15 June 2017
By Ali Kemal Akan, Selma Kasap and Mumin Altas
ANKARA
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Tuesday the ongoing crisis between Gulf states was “artificial”.
“There is no crisis between two states, or a state and the others in the Gulf region that is grounded in a real cause. It is a fabricated and artificial dispute,“ Numan Kurtulmus, who also serves as government spokesman, told a fast-breaking iftar gathering with Ankara representatives of newspapers and TV channels.
“Everybody sees that it has the potential to turn into a big crisis,” he said, adding it could affect other nearby countries.
Asked whether Turkey’s initiatives to resolve the crisis could be termed “mediation”, Kurtulmus replied: “If any broker is needed in the future, Turkey is the shoo-in in the region.”
On June 5, five Arab countries -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Yemen -- abruptly cut diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.
