CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 87

ARAKS PASHAYAN
tor foreign policy of Qatar’s Emirate. Qatar is the US strategic partner
and ally. The largest American air base in the Middle East and the US
Central Command (CENTCOM) Headquarter is based in Al-Udeid. 28
The very fact of this military base helped the Emirates to cope with
the crisis as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its allies could not fi ght a
war against Qatar bypassing that factor. In February 2018, Qatar’s De-
fence Minister Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah announced that Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had planned military intervention in
Qatar with a power change purpose to which the Turkish military base in
Qatar hampered. Incidentally, it began construction in 2014 after the fi rst
serious Saudi-Qatari confrontation. It should also be noted that in the re-
cent period, Qatar has increased its military budget, competing with Sau-
di Arabia. 29
It is noteworthy that on June 6, Le Monde issued a statement, accord-
ing to which Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman had written a letter
to French President Emmanuel Macron notifying that if Qatar purchased
Russian Air Defence S-400 systems, the Saudi Air Force would destroy
their located positions. Allegedly, Qatar has not made eff orts to purchase
them but has provoked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In fact, Qatar, a
diminutive yet determined state, is in the midst of a serious arms race in
the Middle East. In 2017, Qatar signed a USD 12 billion deal with the
United States. 30 Of no less importance is the military agreement with
France. 31 It is noteworthy that while being a US ally, Qatar never joined
the US anti-Iranian campaign, and, on the contrary, expanded its cooper-
ation with Tehran. Qatar shares with Iran the largest gas fi eld in the Mid-
dle East, located in the Gulf Waters and known as North Dome, or South
Persian the Iranian version. In 2000, Qatar stepped closer to the pressure
of Tehran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and shut down the Israeli
Trade Center in Qatar that was operational since 1996. Qatar managed
to successfully counteract the Quartet’s pressures also thanks to skilfully
28
29
30
31
Greg Jaff e, Thomas Gibbons-Neff , “For Qataris, US air base is best defense against Trumps
attacks,” The Washington Post, June 6, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/check-
point/wp/2017/06/06/for-qataris-a-u-s-air-base-is-best-defense-against-trump-attacks/?nore-
direct=on&utm_term=.3e1c67ab1727 (accessed June 3, 2018).
Chirine Mouchantaf, “A huge military build-up is underway in Qatar. But who will man the
systems?,” Defense News, December 15, 2017, https://www.defensenews.com/global/mid-
east-africa/2017/12/15/a-huge-military-buildup-is-underway-in-qatar-but-who-will-man-the-
systems/ (accessed May 28, 2018).
“US and Qatar seal $12bn deal for F-15 fi ghter jets,” Al Jazeera, June 15, 2017, https://www.
aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/qatar-seal-12bn-deal-15-fi ghter-jets-170614221327980.html
(accessed June 3, 2018).
Hadeel Al Sayegh, “Qatar fl exes fi nancial muscle with 12 billion Euros of French deals,”
Reuters, December 7, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-qatar-france-contracts/qatar-
fl exes-fi nancial-muscle-with-12-billion-euros-of-french-deals-idUSKBN1E1162 (accessed
June 17, 2018).
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