Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani announced that his country is taking part in the military action against terrorist groups, stressing that terrorism poses a threat to the whole world.
"We have to counter terrorism," Sheikh Tamim said in an interview with CNN's Christian Amanpour that aired late Thursday, noting that the military operation against the terrorist groups will go on "for a while." He stated terrorism movements pose "a threat around the world" not only for Qatar or the international coalition but also for any stable and modern country.
"Terrorism is something that is not acceptable in our culture, in our religion, so it will not stop us." He added that Qatar's contribution would be different as it would include helping refugees and combating the smuggling of money that ends with such groups.
The Qatari Amir, however, stated that the Syrian regime should be punished for its crimes against its own people.
"The main cause of all this is the regime in Syria, and this regime should be punished," the Amir said.
"We've been saying that from day one, that if we don't stop the bloodshed in Syria and we don't stop [Syrian President] Bashar [al-Assad] committing genocide on his own people, this is where we're going to reach." "Unfortunately, we are in a situation now that the Syrian people, who demanded for their freedom, are between a regime, brutal regime, and terrorist acts." "If we think that we're going to get rid of the terrorist movements and leave those regimes doing what -- this regime especially, doing what he is doing -- then terrorist movements will come back again," the Amir cautioned.
Asked if Qatar would expand its participation in the US-led mission to strike Assad regime targets, he said "Qatar cannot do that by itself, of course. If there is a coalition that will help and protect the Syrian people, we will be part of it." On allegations that Qatar is funding terrorism, the Amir said there is a distinction that must be made in this regard.
"There are differences that some countries and some people that believe any group which comes from Islamic background are terrorists. And we don't accept that." "There are people in Syria and Iraq and other Arab countries who don't believe in the freedom of speech, who don't believe that they have to live with others and accept others, and also accept the choice of the people. Those are the people that we don't fund." The Amir argued that it would be a "big mistake" to consider any Islamic group as "extremists" just because of "political differences" with them.
"Other than that, extremists are well known. Terrorist groups are well known and we know them." Regarding differences with partners over Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas movements, the Amir acknowledged that there are differences.
"There was confusion in the beginning of the Arab Spring for everybody, especially in our region. Everybody took a different step," the Amir said.
"We took our foreign policy, which we believe was right at that moment that we helped and we stood by the Arab people who demanded for their dignity and their freedom." What happened after that, the Amir said, was that in the elections the Egyptian people chose a government that was led by the Muslim Brotherhood.
"We gave aid to the Egyptian government before the Muslim Brotherhood during the military government after the stepping down of Hosni Mubarak." "People were saying that we support the Muslim Brotherhood," the Amir said.
"We don't. We support the Egyptian government," he added, noting that Qatar has supported the different Egyptian governments that followed. "So, it is nothing to do with Muslim Brotherhood." On the presence of Muslim Brotherhood members in Qatar, the Amir said that many of them left "after what happened in Egypt a year ago" and "some of them came to Qatar because they were threatened and they were afraid." "They were safe in Qatar as long as they didn't practice" politics, the Amir told CNN.
"Some of them are still there, some of them are leaving because they believe that this is the moment for them to practice politics and they know the rules of the country -- that as long as you are here you can't practice politics against any other Arab country." In addition, the Amir stressed Qatar's support for the Palestinian people, saying that "we support all Palestinian people. We believe Hamas is a very important part of the Palestinian people.
"As I said we have differences with some friends, who consider Hamas a terrorist group. We don't," he said.
"Simply, because they are a very important component of the Palestinian people." Asked about the Qatari-Israeli ties, the Amir said, "We believe in peace. Since 1991 and 1993, and Oslo and after that, we believed in peace. We helped a lot in trying to make a bridge between the Palestinians and Israelis." But, he added, the war in Gaza few years ago and the huge number of victims made Qatar cut its "official ties with Israel." He stated though that peace between the Palestinians and Israelis is the only way out and that there must be "pressure on both sides" to reach a peaceful solution.
"We don't have a problem in starting a relation with the Israelis as long as they are serious in making peace and protecting the Palestinian people," the Amir said.
On Qatar's foreign policy strategy, Sheikh Tamim said "We believe in peace, dialogue and mediation between the countries to resolve problems. We have our own way of thinking in foreign policy and others should respect it."
Source: KUNA