Turkish President Approves Deployment of Troops to Qatar Amid Diplomatic Crisis

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has approved legislation allowing the deployment of Turkish troops to Qatar in light of the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Doha and other Arab states, Turkish media reported on Friday, citing the president's office.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Along with the bill, which was approved by the Turkish parliament on Wednesday and signed by the president on Thursday, Erdogan has also approved a deal between Turkey and Qatar on military training cooperation, the Anadolu news agency reported, adding that this deal was initially signed in December 2015.

The bill was published in the Official Gazette on Friday.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the latter of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East. They were later joined by Libya, Yemen, the Maldives, Mauritius and Mauritania, with Jordan and Djibouti announcing they will lower the level of diplomatic contacts with Qatar.