"Our three-person delegation was sent to Qatar on June 12. It continues to work on the preparation of a base for deploying the Turkish troops, carrying out the necessary work and establishing coordination," the statement added.
It noted that the cooperation agreement on the deployment of the Turkish armed forces in Qatar for the purpose of military training entered into force on June 15, 2015, and work on its implementation began in October the same year.
"Since that moment, Turkish and Qatari military constantly make mutual visits to coordinate this activity. On April 28, 2016, an agreement was signed to start work on the deployment of the Turkish troops in Qatar, which was approved by the Turkish parliament on June 7, 2017. Thus, Turkey has completed the legal process for deploying military personnel in Qatar," the General Staff said.
According to Turkish Ambassador to Qatar Ahmet Demirok, about 3,000 soldiers of the ground forces, servicemen of the country's air forces and navy, as well as instructors and special forces, will be deployed on the base in Qatar.
On June 5, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and embargoed all sea, air and land traffic to the country, accusing Doha of supporting terrorists and destabilizing the Middle East, and several other states of the region reduced diplomatic relations with the country. On June 6, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would continue to develop relations with Qatar and will make efforts to resolve the crisis through dialogue.
On Friday, Erdogan approved legislation allowing the deployment of Turkish troops to Qatar amid the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Doha and other Arab states and said he had not witnessed Doha backing terrorism.
