General Information
The State of Qatar is a country located at the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula in the region of the Arab Gulf. It occupies 11,571 sq.km on a Peninsula that extends approximately to 160 km north into the Arab Gulf from the Arabian Peninsula. It shares its sole 60 km long land border with Saudi Arabia to the south with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Arab Gulf.
The width of the Qatar Peninsula varies between 55 and 90 km the land is mainly flat and rocky, desert covered with loose sand and gravel with no water inland bodies. The highest point of the Qatar Peninsula is 103 meters, and the coastline is 563 km long. The capital of the State of Qatar is Doha where over 80% of the population of the country lives.
Qatar has been ruled as a hereditary semi-constitutional monarchy by the House of Thani since 1825. In 2003 Qatar adopted a constitution that provided for the direct election of 30 of the 45 members of legislature, and its laws do not permit the establishment of political bodies or trade unions. The Emir of Qatar has the exclusive power to appoint the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers who constitute the Council of Ministers which is the Supreme Executive Authority in the country and initiates legislation.
The Consultive Assembly is made up of 30 popularly elected members and 15 appointed by the Emir. The Consultive Assembly had its first elections in October 2021. The Assembly can block legislation with a simple majority and can also dismiss ministers including the Prime Minister with a two-thirds vote.
Sharia is the main source of Qatari legislation although in practice Qatar’s legal system is a mixture of civil law and Sharia. Sharia is applied to family law inheritance and several criminal acts.
History
The first proof of human presence in the Qatari Peninsula dates to 50.000 years ago, while settlements and tools date back to the Stone Age. In 224 AD the Sasanian Empire gained control of the territories surrounding the Gulf, and Qatar played a role in the commercial activity of the Sassanids contributing at least two commodities, precious pearls and purple dye. During this period many of the inhabitants of Eastern Arabia were introduced to Christianity.
The first Arab tribes of the region, started to convert to Islam in 628 AD, marking the beginning of the Islamic period in the Eastern Arabian Peninsula. During the Umayyad Caliphate period (661 – 750 AD) Qatar benefited from its commercially strategic position in the Gulf. The pearl industry of Qatar was a crucial factor for the economic prosperity of the population. The Abbasid Revolution resulted in the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate leading to the Abbasid Caliphate period (750 - 1253 AD). Ships travelling from Basra to India and China would make stops in Qatar’s ports during that period which ended with the declined of the Caliphate.
The decline of the Abbasid Caliphate period was succeeded by the dominance of much of Eastern Arabia by the Usfurid Dynasty in 1253 and later the Prince of the Kingdom of Ormus in 1320. The Kingdom of Ormus was defeated by the Portuguese in 1507 and several years later in 1515 the Kingdom became a vassal state of the Portuguese Empire. In 1521 Portugal seized significant portion of Eastern Arabia and constructed a series of fortress along the Arabian coast. The Portuguese were expelled from the area in 1602 by the British and the Dutch.
The expel of the Portuguese from the region was followed by the expel of the Ottomans who have been present in the region since mid-16th century AD, by the powerful Bani Khalid tribe in 1670. Having expelled the Ottomans, the Bani Khalid tribe held jurisdiction over Qatar till 1783. A period of great turbulence followed the depletion of the power of the Bani Khalid tribe and its defeat by the Wahhabi in 1795.
In 1766 the Al Khalifa and the Al Jalahima of the Bani Utub tribe migrated to the Qatari Peninsula from Kuwait and settled at the new town of Al-Zubārah north of the city of Doha. In response to attacks on Az Zubarah by an Omani Sheikh who ruled Bahrain from Bushehr in Iran, the Bani Utub tribe of Kuwait and Qatar, as well as some local Qatari tribes, captured Bahrain in 1783. The Al Khalifa family claimed sovereignty over Bahrain and ruled it for several years from Al-Zubārah. Most of the Al Khalifa migrated to the more desirable location of Bahrain and established a shaykhdom that endures to this day.
In the late 18th and early 19th century, Britain had already established its presence in the Gulf as a result of its growing interest in India, Britain’s desire for secure passage for East India Company ships led to impose its own order in the region. In 1820 East India Company and the Sheikhs of the coastal region of the Gulf, signed the General Maritime Treaty of Peace. The Treaty acknowledge British authority in the Gulf and sought to end piracy and the kidnapping of slaves. Bahrain became a party of the Treaty, and it was assumed that Qatar as a dependency was also a party to it.
In 1867 a dispute erupted between the Bahraini Al Khalifa family that continued to hold some claim to Al-Zubārah and the Qatari residents. The result of this dispute was the Qatari-Bahraini War of 1867-1868 in which Bahraini and Abu Dhabi forces sacked and looted Doha followed by a Qatari counterattack. The conflict prompted the British political agent Colonel Lewis Pelly to impose a settlement with the signing of a Treaty in 1868.
The Qatari Sheikhs were represented by Seikh Mohammed bin Thani the most important figure not only in Qatar but also in the whole Arabian Peninsula. The house of the Al Thani was established in 1825 with Seikh Mohammed bin Thani as the first leader. The negotiations were the first stage in the development of Qatar as a sheikhdom, while the signing of the Treaty it implicitly recognized the distinctness of Qatar from Bahrain and explicitly acknowledge the position of Mohammed bin Thani as an important representative of the tribes of the Qatari Peninsula.
In 1872 Doha accepted the Ottoman sovereignty and Qatar was formally incorporated into the Ottoman Empire as a province in Najd, with Sheikh Jassim being appointed its Kaymakam (Sub-Governor). In 1876 Mohammed bin Thani handed over the administration to his son Seikh Jassim bin Mohammed al Thani due to old age.
The relationship between Seikh Jassim bin Mohammed al Thani and the Ottomans started having problems in 1882 and by 1892 the Seikh resigned as the Sub Governor of Qatar, fell out with the Ottomans and stopped paying taxes. In March 1893, Seikh Jassim bin Mohammed al Thani won a crucial battle against the Ottomans. The battle was a turning point for the Qatar’s strive to gain its independence and freedom, while Seikh Jassim bin Mohammed al Thani is regarded as the founder of Modern Qatar.
The Ottomans left the Peninsula in 1915 and the following year the new Seikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani signed the 11 articles Anglo-Qatari Treaty according to which Qatar relinquished its autonomy in foreign affairs in exchange for Britain’s military protection from external threats. The Treaty was renewed in 1935 accompanied by the first oil-prospecting agreement with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
Although oil was found in Qatar at the end of 1938, exploration started after the end of WW II. In 1968 Britain announced the withdrawal its troops from the East of Suez, ending the Arabian Gulf Starte protectorate era. This development led the rulers of Bahrain, Qatar and the six Sheikhdoms, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah to propose the establishment of a Federation of Arab Emirates. The initiative was not successful and finally on the 3rd of September 1971 Qatar became independent.
The Emir of the independent Qatar Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani was deposed in February 1972 by his cousin, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani. The new Emir was deposed by his son Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani in a coup on 27 June 1995. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani ruled Qatar till 2013 when he abdicated the throne, handing power to his fourth son Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Geography and Climate
The Qatari Peninsula extends approximately to 160 km north into the Gulf from the Arabian Peninsula. Its width varies between 55 and 90 km, the land is mainly flat and rocky. Smooth plains are found in the east, and the surface is covered by fine-grained dust. The south and south-west of the Peninsula mainly comprise sand dunes and salt flats. In western Qatar and the northeast coast hill ranges can be found. At the southern part of the country the Jebel Nakhsh mountain ridge can be found. The Exclusive Economic Zone of Qatar is 31,950 Sq Km and the territorial sea 12 n.m. The most important island of Qatar is Halul lying about 90 km east of Doha and it serves as a storage area and loading terminal for oil.
The coastline is 700 km, many flat low-lying offshore islands are located near the coast accompanied by coral reefs. The highest point of the Peninsula is Qurayn Abu al Bawl with 103-meter altitude. Qatar has long Summers, from June till September, characterized by intense heat and alternating dryness and humidity with temperatures exceeding 40 Degrees Celsius. From November till March the temperature is moderate. It can reach 39 Degrees Celsius in April and as low as 7 Degrees Celsius in January. The rainfall averages 100 mm per year confined to the winter months.
The Ethnic Groups of the Population of Qatar
The population of Qatar in 2024 was 3,119,589 inhabitants, the vast majority of whom live in the capital of the country Doha. Foreign workers in 2022 amounted around 88% of the population (2,58 million out of 2,94 million) the largest of which comprise South Asians most of them from India. Egyptians and Filipinos are the largest non-South Asian migrant group in Qatar.
Native Qataris comprise 11.6% of the country’s population and can be divided into three ethnic groups the Bedouin Arabs, Hadar and Afro-Arab. The official religion of Qatar is Sunni Wahhabi Islam, though Qatari culture is, in many respects, strikingly more liberal than its Wahhabi neighbor, Saudi Arabia. Islamic jurisprudence is the basis of Qatar’s legal system. There is also a significant minority religion of Hindu due to the large number of migrant workers from India.
The growth rate of the population is 1.04% (2022), the birth rate is 9.33 births/1,000 population (2022), while the life expectancy for the male population was 77.7 years and for the female population 81,96 years in 2022. According to the Article 1 of the Constitution of Qatar the official language is Arabic, although English is the lingua franca of business.
Foreign Relations of Qatar
Qatar became fully independent on September 1st of 1971, several months after Britain announced that it would no longer exercise responsibility for Persian Gulf security.
Qatar became member of the UN in 1971 and participates in the international economic forums through its membership in international, regional and Arab organizations that work in different economic, social, cultural and scientific fields, which are the:
- Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),
- OPEC,
- Arab League,
- World Trade Organization,
- UN specialized agencies (FAO and UNIDO),
- World Bank,
- International Monetary Fund,
- Council of Arab Economic Unity
- OPEC Fund,
- Islamic Development Bank,
- Organization of Islamic Cooperation,
- Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMSEC).
Since its independence, Qatar developed its regional relations and foreign policies based on a strategy of balancing and alliance building among regional and great powers. Qatar has adopted an open-door foreign policy according to which Qatar maintain ties to all parties and regional players in the region including organizations such as Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Taliban and Iran. Qatar has cultivated close relationship with Western powers and more specifically the U.S.A and the U.K and it is hosting their military forces at the Al Udeid Air Base.
For many decades Qatar had been hosting Muslim Brotherhood activists but in 1999 the organization was disbanded in Qatar although several of its members stayed in the country till December 2021 when Doha demanded Muslim Brotherhood activists to leave the country. Qatar has been maintaining good relationships with several Islamic radical organisations and has been working hard to establish its role as a credible mediator between these organisations, Iran, Russia and the West. A typical example of this policy are the successful mediations of Qatar in several occasions such as the evacuation of Americans, Afghans and other from Afghanistan when the Taliban took over the rule of the country.
Qatar carefully maintains good relationships and diplomatic ties with Iran with which it shares the largest gas field in the world (North Field/South Pars),
Relations with Asia in particular with Japan, South Korea, and China are long standing but essentially economic since these countries account almost 2/3 of Qatar’s trade surplus and more than 1/3 of its trade.
Qatar’s relations with the African continent are still recent and limited but are growing thanks to investments in infrastructure or the energy sector and a constant policy of development aid.
Ankara and Doha have developed strong bilateral relationships. Both countries maintain very close military, industrial, political, diplomatic and economic ties. These ties were developed mostly in the 2000’s with the signing of several agreements and the coordination of their regional politics in the Syrian Civil War, Libya and the Egyptian crisis. In 2015 the governments of both countries agreed to establish a cooperation council called “High level Strategic Cooperation Council” and two years later in 2017 Turkey announced the deployment of a number of troops in Qatar according to the agreement that was signed in 2014, with plans to eventually station 3,000 troops in the country.
Turkey and Qatar share similar positions in several cases of regional policy. During the Egyptian crisis both countries supported the pro-Islamist newly elected President Mohammed Morsi and reacted to the ousting of Morsi from the Presidency by the Armed Forces on the 3rd of July 2013. Qatar and Turkey shared similar positions on the Syrian Civil War and supported the same rebel groups.
Qatar supported Turkey’s air strikes against PKK in 2015 northern Iraq, and few years later Turkey together with Iran supported actively Qatar during the Qatar Diplomatic Crisis of 2017-2021. In 2018 Qatar justified the invasion of Turkey in northern Syria aiming to oust U.S backed Syrian Kurds from the enclave of Afrin and in 2019 supported the Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria.
In Libya, Ankara and Doha backed the pro-Islamist General National Congress and shipped arms to Islamist political factions, while both countries overtly provide support for Muslim Brotherhood. Since 2002 Qatar and Turkey have developed close Military and Economic relations which involve cooperation in military training, arms sales and economic investments. In July 2012 the two countries signed a military cooperation agreement and in March 2015 they signed a military agreement which entailed mutual military deployment and the exchange of military training. The cooperation of the two countries expanded further in the defence industry and procurement field. Qatar has bought Turkish made military equipment and owns 50% stake of BMC the Turkish military vehicles manufacturer.
The economic relations of Qatar and Turkey have flourished the last 16 years. In 2008 the Qatari Investment Authority and Turkey Investment Support and Promotion Agency signed a MoU marking the opening of a comprehensive cooperation between the two countries. In 2017 Qatar’s direct foreign investments in Turkey was over US$20 Billion and the next year Qatar agreed to invest another US$19 Billion. On the other hand, Turkey supported Qatar economically during the 2017 Qatari Diplomatic crisis with the continuous shipments to Doha of food supply.
The Qatar Diplomatic crisis (2017-2021)
The Qatar Diplomatic crisis of 2017-2021 was the most important development in the foreign affairs of the country. The roots of the crisis are found in the “March 2014 Diplomatic crisis” when Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain withdraw their ambassadors from Doha. Qatar had differences with other Arab governments.
Qatar supported the revolutionary wave of the “Arab Spring” while Saudi Arabia opposed. Qatar state owned Al Jazeera TV station supported the Arab Spring and criticized principal foreign governments.
Qatar was criticized for interfering, according to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, in the domestic affairs of other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. Furthermore, Doha maintained good relations with Iran and supported the Muslim Brotherhood in the past and did not deport from Qatar members of the Brotherhood as it was decided according to 2014 Riyadh Agreement.
The Qatar Diplomatic crisis started on the 5th of June 2017 and ended on the 5th of January 2021. It involved Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, four countries that simultaneously severed their bilateral relations with Qatar. The four countries banned Qatar registered aircraft and Qatari ships from utilizing their sovereign territory by air, land and sea.
The Saudi led coalition demanded from Qatar among others, the reduction of the diplomatic relations with Iran, stopping military coordination with Turkey, severing ties with several radical organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, ISIL, Hezbollah etc., expelling members of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) from Qatar and closing Al Jazeera TV station.
Qatar was blocked by the countries of the coalition and for a period of time faced supply disruptions which eventually were minimized by additional import from Turkey and Iran through Iran. Part of the reaction of Doha to the Saudi led blockade was the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Iran in 2017.
The diplomatic relations were restored, and the blockade ended in January 2021 with the mediation of Kuwait and the United States and the signing of the agreement on the 5th of January 2021 following the GCC summit at Al-Ula Saudi Arabia, although Qatar did not fulfil any of the demands of the Saudi led coalition.