United Arab Emirates opens up to normalise relations with Turkey

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is open to the possibility of normalising relations with Turkey, Anwar Gargash, the Gulf country's foreign minister, announced.

Anwar Gargash recently indicated that any normalisation agreement "will respect mutual sovereignty". But at the same time, the diplomat asked Ankara to withdraw from its position as "main sponsor" of the Muslim Brothers, an organisation classified as terrorist by several nations and which interferes in the internal affairs of various countries in the Middle East region with its radical Islamist policies. 

"We don't have any problems with Turkey, such as border issues or other similar questions", Anwar Gargash said during an interview with Sky News Arabia, and added that, if Turkey would cut its "support to the Muslim Brothers", it could "recalibrate its relations with the Arab countries". 

The UAE's foreign minister did not refer to the conflicting positions of Abu Dhabi and Ankara in the Libyan war on power or their disagreement over various regional problems, particularly in Syria and Iraq. These issues are related to the expansionist policy of the Eurasian country led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which is aimed at gaining a better geostrategic position in the Middle East and North Africa and acquiring more hydrocarbon resources. 

The case of Libya is paradigmatic. The North African country has been embroiled in a civil war since the fall of Muammar al-Qadhafi's regime in 2011, with a confrontation between the National Accord Government of Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, based in the capital Tripoli and recognised by the United Nations and supported by Turkey, Qatar and Italy, and the other eastern Tobruk Executive associated with the Libyan National Army led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, which is supported by Russia, France, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Although the situation has been more relaxed recently with contacts at political and military level on both sides that have managed to calm down and halt the violent escalation through pacts relating to the reactivation of economic activity and the organisation of the country's key institutions. 

This Emirati diplomatic appeal comes after the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), of which the UAE is a member, declared that it would put an end to its long-standing dispute with Qatar following a blockade of the Qatari state, which was accused of supporting cross-border terrorism. This embargo had prompted the Gulf monarchy to establish ties with countries such as the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey, which were singled out for their belligerent policy and regional destabilisation. 

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt began an air, sea and land blockade against Qatar in June 2017 owing to claims that Doha had been backing Islamist groups and was too close to Iran-affirmations that the Qatari state denied. This blockade has been lifted in recent days following the GCC summit, which has normalised the situation thanks to the rapprochement of positions that has occurred. 

Following this latest rapprochement, the Qatari foreign minister, Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, stressed that Doha's relations with Teheran and Ankara would not be affected by the reconciliation agreement. "Bilateral relations are mainly driven by a sovereign decision of the country ... and the national interest," he said in an interview with a financial newspaper. "So there is no effect on our relationship with any other country," he said. 

For its part, Turkey welcomes the UAE's positive statement on relations between the two nations, but is not yet fully convinced. Ankara believes that Abu Dhabi has been trying to create more room for manoeuvre for the Biden Administration in the United States through diplomatic normalisation talks. 

A senior Turkish official described the UAE's call for improved relations with Turkey as a "positive" step, but told the Middle East Eye that Ankara did not believe it was a sign of imminent rapprochement.

The official, in response to the comments of the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, suggesting that the relations between the two rivals could be "recalibrated", said that Turkey has never tried to undermine the Emirate government.