German Position on the Gulf Crisis.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Yemen and the
Maldives cut their ties with Qatar, accusing the country of backing terrorism,
and imposed punitive measures.
From the first moment the German position was
the position of wisdom. It has called on all parties to exercise maximum
restraint and to respect their obligations under international humanitarian
law. Last month and during his visit to Germany, when Saudi Foreign Minister Adil
al-Ahmad al-Jubayr tried to promote charges that Qatar supports terror, the German
Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel rejected being silent and replied to a question
on these charges and said, “we have no decisive information to suggest that
Qatar is the soul culprit behind all of this various extremist groups, but the
German government along with other
European governments possessed different information about the role of various
institutions, groups, and multiple-family households from the Gulf States,
including Saudia Arabia, which are involved in supporting terrorist groups.”
In my opinion, Gabriel’s answer includes
different connotations:
First:
The Government of Germany expresses its rejection of the economic,
commercial and financial embargo on Qatar. Mr. Gabriel clearly expressed this during
the meeting with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman
al-Thani in the northern German town of Wolfenbuettel when he said, “we are
convinced that now is the hour of diplomacy, and we must talk to each other;
along with our American colleagues but above all our colleagues in the region,
we must try to find solutions, especially lifting the sea and air
blockades."
Second:
The German position is based on the
principle of preventing war. During his press conference, Mr. Gabriel said,
“Indeed, we already had an experience with war, which is bloody and scary, and we have to do everything possible to prevent a large-scale bloody
war from breaking out. Sigmar earlier
made the comments to German newspaper „Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung:
“"There is a danger that this dispute could lead to war," Sigmar added
that there was still a chance to end the "dramatic" harshness against
Qatar by neighbouring countries.
This rejection was allowed and clear message, that says: “we will not be
a part of the American decision, who gave the green-light to start the
accusations against Qatar, that they allegedly support Islamist extremists.’ This
situation reminds us of the German position at the time of the second Iraqi
war, when Joschka Fisher, the German Foreign Minister at the time, during a UN Security
Council meeting stressed his opposition to the war and described it as
illegitimate. He criticized America`s politics toward Iraq and called for
diplomatic efforts to resolve the problems with Iraq. In the same context, the
Former German Chancellor Schroeder told his Social Democratic Party, “Don't
expect Germany to approve a resolution legitimizing war”, So France and Germany
at that time also believed any decision using military force should be initiated
by the UN Security Council, only after
UN weapons inspectors have reported on their findings”. This also reflects the
German position which evolved directly from political and historical
experience.
This also reflects the mutual understanding between European countries
especially the two main political players; Germany and France who are striving to
be independent of the American influence. This Idea of this independence has
been strengthened against the unilateral policy of the United States which runs
counter to the spirit of the UN Charter, especially after the American invasion
of Iraq in 2003. This Vision has become ever more urgent given of the new
realities of power in the region and political change in America after Trump was
elected, and his complaint that NATO became “obsolete” because it “hasn’t taken
care of terror, and that the other European countries would follow in Britain’s
footsteps and leave the EU”.
The German chancellor Angela Merkel stepped up her criticism of Donald
Trump, and declared that the US and the UK were no longer "reliable
partners", and she quoted a 1963 speech by former President John F.Kennedy
in Frankfurt, where he told the audience "those who look only to the past
or the present are certain to miss the future“.
She also announced: We Europeans need to take our fate into our own
hands.
Third:
The German position is also based on the importance of taking into
account the economic interests between Germany and Qatar, which is considered a
solid economic partner to Germany. The strengthening of economic ties between
both countries started 40 years ago. In 2015, bilateral trade was estimated at
approximately EUR 2.54 billion. German exports to Qatar were worth around EUR
2.16 in 2001, and German imports from Qatar approximately EUR 388 million.
Qatar owns some of the German Intuitions bonds like Deutsch Bank and Volkswagen.
On the other hand, Germany has economic investments with Iran especially after
the Iranian nuclear agreement with the previous Obama administration. Germany
is seeking to maintain its economic power in the region vis-à-vis its Turkish
opponent, which attempts to expand its power in the region.
Now Germany became the leader of the European Union and the liberal
world, it keeps trying to express its power to make a balance in conflict areas
like the Middle East. Decades ago Germany gained experience in the area of
conflicts resolution. We still remember the decisive role of Germany in ending
the Colombia war, which it seized place in a peace deal between FARC separatists
and the Colombian government. Therefore, from the first moment Germany was involved
in the current Gulf Crisis to find a solution. Its clear that Germany and its European
allies especially France will be able to find a solution for this crisis and
will restore the role of Europe in the Middle East after it was left to the USA
and Russia. The era of European independence has started.
