Turkey and Qatar on Friday insisted Ankara would keep a new military base in the emirate, rejecting demands from other Gulf countries for the facility to be closed. They then issued 13 wide-ranging demands to lift a blockade placed on Qatar, including the closure of the Turkish military base in the emirate. “No country has the right to raise the issue of the Turkish base or the military cooperation between Qatar and Turkey as long as this cooperation respects international law,” Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told reporters in Ankara. Speaking after meeting al-Thani, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the demands to close the base “go against the two countries’ sovereignty. Shortly after the crisis unfolded, Ankara fast-tracked the deployment of troops at the base as part of a bilateral defence deal agreed in late 2014.

Source: Dhaka Tribune July 14, 2017 11:37 UTC