DOHA, Qatar, March 5 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain pulled their envoys from Qatar, saying it hasn't enacted a non-interference agreement.
The three countries, part of the Gulf Cooperation Council along with Qatar, announced the move in a joint statement Wednesday.
They said the agreement reached in November included "a security agreement and a commitment to the principles that ensure non-interference in the internal affairs of any of the GCC countries, either directly or indirectly, and not to support any activity that would threaten the security and stability of any of the GCC countries from organizations or individuals, including support for hostile media."
The GCC also see Doha "returning to its old tricks of pursuing policies unilaterally and outside of a GCC framework. Qatar's overtures to Turkey are causing major friction," a commentary published Wednesday in Gulf News said.
"As of today, all the movement to create a GCC Union and to rally the monarchies around each other in defense and preservation of the old order of the Gulf region seems to be crumbling," the commentary said.
Qatar's leadership must make some "real decisions" in the coming months, the commentary said.
"Some [Arab] officials argued that Qatar's new leadership is under a one-year probationary period as new Qatari officials and their staffs are still get[ting] use to the new leadership," the commentary said. "If true, that means that the old regime ... is still in play ... ."
