Turkey plans to deploy air and naval forces to Qatar in addition to ground troops that are already stationed in the country, a Turkish diplomat has said.
Fikret Ozer, Turkish ambassador to Qatar, however, declined to state a timeline for the move.
“According to the agreement signed between Qatar and Turkey in 2014, all ground, air, and naval forces will be deployed to Qatar,” he told reporters in Doha on Wednesday.
Ankara and Doha would determine the “timeline of the construction of the necessary infrastructure and when these forces will be deployed through talks”, he said.
The planned deployment is part of an agreement that also saw Turkey set up a military camp in Qatar.
The first batch of Turkish troops arrived at the Tariq Bin Ziyad military base in 2015.
The camp, located south of Doha, is Turkey’s first such installation in the Middle East and can accommodate up to 5,000 soldiers.
Ozer also declined to disclose the number of Turkish forces currently stationed in Qatar.
“That information would be disclosed if our Qatari brothers agree to share that,” he said. “We are guests here; they are the host”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been a major supporter of Doha since Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt severed diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar on June 5.
The four Arab countries accused Doha of supporting “terrorism” and fostering ties with their regional rival Iran. Qatar denies the accusations.
Shortly after the diplomatic crisis erupted, Turkey’s parliament fast-tracked the Qatari-Turkish agreement in question along with another agreement that allows the Turkish military to train Qatari security forces.
Ankara has also been trying to mediate between the opposing sides to find a solution to the crisis.
Source: Al jazeera
