Turkiye and Qatar have signed a mutual defence agreement after a meeting between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Istanbul on Friday, Al Jazeera reports.
“President Erdogan stated that we would continue working together to prevent the resurgence of war in the Gulf region and establish a basis for dialogue and achieve peace,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement on X.
Erdogan’s office said the agreement would “add a new dimension to relations between Turkiye and Qatar”, while the Qatari Emir praised the deal as a “strategic partnership”.
In a post on X, Sheikh Tamim wrote that he “discussed ways to build on what has been achieved and identify priorities for joint action in the coming period” during talks with President Erdogan.
A statement by the Amiri Diwan said multiple agreements were signed by the two governments, including a memorandum of understanding “on cooperation in the field of peace, reconciliation and conflict resolution”.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, security analyst Yusuf Alabarda said that since the start of the Iran war, countries in the region “are feeling the effects of the war and no one is feeling secure”.
“All the Gulf countries, but especially Qatar, understood that their security guarantees from the United States are not working properly. The Turkish troops in Qatar are very important but I can say that in the near term Turkish weapons and air defences might be deployed to Qatar to guarantee its safety, which is very important to Turkiye, so this agreement will help move forward these military deals,” Alabarda said.
