Turkey in 'difficult position' over support for Qatar

Turkey is keen to support its close ally Qatar in a diplomatic crisis with Doha's Gulf neighbours, but has found itself with little room to manoeuvre given its ties with Riyadh, analysts say. "This is a most unwanted crisis for Turkey given its close relationship with both Qatar and Saudi Arabia," Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, said. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain lead a string of countries that this week cut ties with Qatar over what they say is the emirate's financing of extremist groups and its relations with Iran, the Saudis' regional arch-rival.