Baghdad: Qatar's prime minister said late on Wednesday that his nation was sending Baghdad a "message" by its low-level representation at an Arab summit in the Iraqi capital, criticising what he said was the marginalisation by the country's Shiite-led government of its Sunni minority.
Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Al Thani, who is also Qatar's foreign minister, also told Al Jazeera that Syrians have a right to defend themselves against the crackdown by President Bashar Al Assad's regime, suggesting that his energy-rich nation approves of arming rebels there, or is arming them already.
Ambivalence
Qatar is one of six Gulf Arab nations whose relations with Iraq have been fraught with tension because of Baghdad's close ties with Shiite Iran and its ambivalence on Syria, where the United Nations says at least 9,000 people have died since an anti-Al Assad uprising began a year ago.
Shaikh Hamad told Al Jazeera his energy-rich nation, a key regional player, disapproved of the marginalisation in Iraq of "some segments, including the Sunnis" and that this policy was not in the interest of Iraq or the Arab world.
"Qatar wants the Iraqi government to resolve this in a way that unites the Iraqi people and gives everyone their rights through a dialogue involving all parties," he said.
Relations between Iraq and the Gulf nations have also been tense over criticism by Shiite Iraqi politicians and clerics of Bahrain's dealing with protesters. The demonstrators seek more economic opportunity and an end to what they see as discrimination by the Sunni ruling family.
Offering a glimpse of Qatar's thinking on the Syrian crisis, Shaikh Hamad said it would be a "disgrace to all of us if the sacrifices of the Syrian people go to waste."
