Turkey says Qatar base won’t close

Arab states list demands

ISTANBUL: Turkey yesterday rejected a call from four Arab states to shut its military base in Qatar, saying the base was a guarantor of security in the Gulf and demands for its closure represented interference in its ties with Doha.

Defence Minister Fikri Isik told Turkish broadcaster NTV Ankara had no plans to review a 2014 agreement with Qatar which led to it being set up.

He was speaking after an official from one of the four Arab states boycotting Qatar over alleged support for terrorism said they had sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing the military installation.

‘‘If there is such a demand, it will mean interference in bilateral ties,’’ Isik said.

Five armoured vehicles and 23 military personnel arrived in Doha on Thursday in a deployment Turkey’s armed forces said was part of a military training and cooperation deal. Some 88 Turkish soldiers were already in Qatar, according to the Hurriyet newspaper.

The newspaper said a joint exercise by Turkish and Qatari forces was expected following the Islamic Eid alFitr holiday which starts tomorrow, and the number of Turkish soldiers sent to the Gulf state could eventually reach 1000. An air force contingent was also envisaged.

Turkey, which has long tried to play the role of regional mediator, is also wary of upsetting its other allies in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, and Isik said Ankara had hoped that tensions over Qatar could be resolved without a crisis.

Isik said Turkey’s presence in Qatar should be seen as benefiting the whole Gulf. Customs and Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci said Turkish exports to Qatar had tripled since the four Arab countries began boycotting the Gulf state earlier this month.

‘‘Since June 5, exports to Qatar have amounted to $32.5 million. Of this, $12.5 million is food. This figure is three times the normal level,’’ Tufenkci told reporters at a Ramadan fastbreaking dinner on Thursday.

Turkey has sent more than 100 cargo planes full of supplies to Qatar but Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci has said it was not sustainable to maintain supplies through an airlift.

Four Arab states boycotting Qatar over alleged support for terrorism have sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television and reducing ties to their regional adversary Iran, an official of one of the four countries said.

The list, compiled by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain, is the price for ending the worst Gulf Arab crisis in years.

Qatar must also announce it is severing ties with terrorist, ideological and sectarian organisations including the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Jabhat Fateh al Sham, formerly al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, he said, and surrender all designated terrorists on its territory,

The countries give Doha 10 days to comply, failing which the list would become ‘‘void’’, the official said without elaborating. The demands were handed to Qatar by Kuwait, which is mediating in the dispute.

Expatriates working in Qatar said yesterday their employers had cancelled holidays and barred them from leaving the country.—