Covid-19 Crisis and Iran-Turkey-Qatar Relations: Economic Downgrade and Corona Diplomacy

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has become a global issue beyond being a health crisis alone. Since its emergence in China, the virus has spread to every continent except Antarctica. The Middle East is no exception and the socio-economic repercussions of the crisis have been severely felt in the region. Iran was the epicenter of the virus in the Middle East and Tehran reported first confirmed Covid-19 cases on February 19 from religious city of Qom. The number of cases and casualties surged rapidly since then up to 110,767 and 6.733 respectively by May 13, 2020. The virus also travelled around the Gulf, as the confirmed cases from GCC states soared. Qatar reported first Covid-19 case on February 27, and the tiny Gulf sheikhdom reached the 2nd highest number of cases in Arab countries with 25, 149 cases. In Iran's neighbor Turkey, the first confirmed Covid-19 cases came little later and Turkish Ministry of Health announced first novel coronavirus case of an individual contracted the virus after returning from Europe on March 11. The numbers in Turkey rose to 141, 500 as of 12 May 2020, ranking 9th in terms of confirmed cases in the world.