Turkey to Send 11 Tons of Aid to Qatar

Istanbul, 25 Ramadan 1438/20 June 2017 (MINA) – Turkey will continue to help Qatar and plans to send the Gulf country another aid ship carrying 11 tons of humanitarian aid, according to the economy minister on Monday.

“A ship carrying 4,000 tons of aid is going [to Qatar] right now, and then another ship carrying 11 tons of aid will also go,” Nihat Zeybekci said during an Iftar event in Istanbul, IINA news reported.

“They [Qatar] wanted from us particularly milk products, and eggs and we’ve sent 90 planes [loaded with aid] and met all their needs,” he said.

On June 5, five Arab countries — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Yemen — abruptly cut diplomatic relations with Qatar.

Mauritania followed suit shortly afterward, while Jordan downgraded its diplomatic relations with Doha and closed the local office of Qatar’s Al-Jazeera satellite news channel.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain also closed their airspace to Qatari aircraft and gave Qatari diplomats 48 hours to leave their respective countries.

Riyadh has also sealed its land border with Qatar, geographically isolating the small Gulf peninsula.(T/R04/RS5)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)