Bahrain last country to restore ties with Qatar after Gulf crisis

By Ikram Kouachi and Mahmoud Barakat

ANKARA (AA) - Qatar and Bahrain have agreed to resume diplomatic ties, the countries’ state news agencies reported Wednesday.

Below is a timeline of the main events of the Gulf crisis.

On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a land, air and sea blockade on Qatar, alleging Doha supported terrorism and maintained relations with Iran. Doha denied the accusation of terrorism, and called it "an attempt to undermine its sovereignty and independent decision."

The official Qatar News Agency (QNA) website was hacked on May 24, 2017 and a false statement attributed to the Emir of the country, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman, was published, announcing that "Qatar was subject to a carefully orchestrated smear campaign."

The blockading countries later in June forced their citizens to leave Qatar and presented it with a list of 13 demands.

Doha rejected the demands of the blockading countries, stressing that they constitute an attack on Qatari sovereignty.

On July 11, 2017, Qatar and the US signed a memorandum of understanding on combating terrorism.

Later in the same month, the Qatari Ministry of Interior announced that it has evidence proving that the UAE was behind the hacking of the QNA news agency website.

Qatar resorted on Jan. 10, 2018 to international arbitration to end the blockade, following a report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights documenting violations by the blockading countries.

In 2019, Qatar participated in an extraordinary meeting of the chiefs of staff of the Gulf Cooperation Council, at the request of Saudi Arabia. Doha condemned the attacks on Riyadh from Iran.

The Saudi, UAE and Bahrain football federations officially announced their participation in the "Gulf 24" championship held in Qatar, on Nov. 13, 2019, after they previously decided to boycott the championship.

The emir of Qatar discussed on Dec 2, 2020, with Jared Kushner, senior advisor to US President Donald Trump, developments in the Middle East.

Two days later, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Ahmed Nasser Al-Sabah made a statement talking about "fruitful discussions that took place during the last period in which all parties affirmed their keenness on Gulf solidarity and stability, and reaching a final agreement," which was welcomed by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Saudi Arabia on Jan. 5, 2021 hosted the AlUla Declaration which ended the four-year Gulf crisis.

Qatar and Bahrain decided on April 12, 2023 to restore diplomatic relations in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Vienna Treaty on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.​​​​​​​