Berlin: German defence minister denied on Monday Qatari media reports attributing statements to her saying that “she sympathizes with Qatar”
On Friday, Qatari media outlets published an alleged interview with Von Der Leyen in Arabic and English. Claiming in the interview that Minister Ursula von der Leyen had spoken of a “conspiracy” by some of its Qatar neighbours to undermine the Gulf state’s security.
Germany described the statements “are in large parts wrong.”
Defence ministry spokesman Frank Faehnrich said that while the issue of Qatar came up during a podium discussion on the sidelines of the recent Nato summit in Brussels, “we can deny that the minister was quoted correctly.”
The German embassy in Riyadh tweeted: "German Ministry of Defence denies reports of Qatari media on alleged statements of Minister Ursula von der Leyen on margins of Nato summit in Brussels."
🔴German Ministery of Defense denies reports of #Qatari media on alleged statements of Minister Ursula von der Leyen on margins of #NATO Summit in #Brüssels.
— ألمانيا 🇩🇪🇸🇦 (@GermanyinKSA) July 15, 2018
The article published cited an unidentified “local Arabic newspaper”
