Who Benefits From Qatar Diplomatic Row

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently approved the Turkish Parliament's decision to deploy Turkish soldiers to Qatar and vowed to keep supporting Doha in its regional conflict; Turkish political analysts commented to Sputnik on how this could complicate Turkey's relationship with the US and who could benefit from this crisis.

On June 7, Turkey’s parliament ratified two deals on deploying troops in Qatar and training the country’s gendarmerie forces.

Late Thursday night, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed off on the Turkish parliament approval.

"Turkish troops are coming to Qatar for the sake of the securıty of the entire region," Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said during his press briefing on the recent crisis with a group of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt in Doha on Thursday.

Dr. Volkan Ozdemir, the Chairman of Ankara-based EPPEN (Institute for Energy Markets and Policies) commented to Sputnik on the developments in the region.

"In the Qatari crisis, Turkey takes up a position in favor of Doha, and this can complicate Turkish-US relationship," he told Sputnik.

"Qatar has very close political and trade relationship with Turkey, this explains why Ankara takes up a position in favor of Doha, and not the Saudi Arabia. However it still remains a question how Qatar will be able to withstand the current pressure and to what extent Turkey is eager to support it," the expert added.

Dr. Ozdemir also noted that the policy of rapprochement between the US and Iran, advocated by the former president Obama, seems to be over. The current US administration is supporting Saudi Arabia. Thus if Turkey provides a clear and evident support to Qatar, it might aggravate Turkish-US relations.

The expert also commented on who could benefit from this crisis. He reminded that Qatar remains one of the largest suppliers of liquified natural gas.

"The crisis can have a negative impact on the energy sector and increase prices on these resources. Hence the US and Russia might potentially benefit from the crisis," he told Sputnik.

In a separate comment on the issue, Turkish political analyst Bora Bayraktar, an expert on the Middle East, told Sputnik Turkiye that Turkey and Qatar have  very close relations in military, trade and energy sphere, hence it is of primary importance for Ankara to maintain its cooperation with Doha.

On the other hand, he said, the cooperation with the Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Persian Gulf is of equal importance to Ankara. Taken Turkey's uneasy foreign policy situation where it has to simultaneously counteract to a number of threats, the regional crisis between Qatar and a number of Arab countries could negatively affect Turkey.

Bora Bayraktar also commented on Qatar's position in this crisis.

"The Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Persian Gulf are concerned over Qatar's position on Iran. Qatari authorities called Iran a serious power in the region. This rhetoric has put the Saudis and other regional countries on alert. Besides, Doha's ties with the Muslim Brotherhood are also a source of grave concern for the Saudi Arabia and other Western countries, as they regard it as a terrorist organization," he told Sputnik.

However the expert further doubled that in such a situation Qatar will easily give up its position.  More likely, he suggested, Doha won't back off on this issue.