Turkish president approves troops to Qatar as Bahraini FM heads to Ankara for talks

The legislation, which also foresees cooperation in military training, was rapidly passed in parliament on Wednesday, a day after Erdogan openly sided with Qatar and criticised other Gulf countries’ moves to isolate it.

Erdogan approved the legislation late on Thursday, his office said. It was published in the Official Gazette on Friday.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other Arab nations cut off relations with Qatar after accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Turkey and Qatar have developed close ties over the years and reached an agreement in 2014 to set up a Turkish military base in the tiny Gulf nation.

Government officials said the military would decide on the number of Turkish troops that would be deployed in Qatar and the length of their stay.

According to Turkish press reports, a commission will be sent to the Turkish Al-Rayyan base before submitting a report regarding the size of land, marine and air forces to be deployed to the base.

Over the next two months, said daily Turkish newspaper Hürriyet, 200 to 250 Turkish soldiers will be posted to Qatar, with the number likely to be modified "according to developments". Turkey is also looking into deploying air and naval assets.

A source told The New Arab that Ankara does not intend to escalate the crisis, but has made the move as a "deterrent to any intention of military action against Doha". 

Meanwhile the foreign minister of Bahrain, one of the Arab countries to cut ties with Qatar, will on Saturday visit Turkey which has close ties with Doha, the Turkish foreign ministry said.

Earlier this week Erdogan criticized the sanctions against Qatar, saying he intended to "develop" ties, but he was careful not to criticize Riyadh.

Turkey has close ties with Doha including in the energy sector, but it also maintains good relations with the other Gulf states.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa will meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, as well as Erdogan to discuss the "latest developments in the region", the ministry said in a statement.

A senior Turkish official said the Bahraini minister will spend four days in Istanbul.

Bahrain joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and other states this week in cutting ties with Qatar over what they say is the emirate's financing of extremist groups and its ties to Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival.

The Arab countries closed air, sea and land links with Qatar, barred the emirate's planes from their airspace and ordered Qatari citizens out within 14 days.

The crisis escalated further on Friday after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain released a list of 59 Qatari and Doha-based people and entities linked to "terrorism".