Report: Qatar, Turkey to Hold Joint Naval Drills

Doha-based al-Sharq newspaper, on Monday, reported that the Qatari Defense Ministry said the Turkish warship TCG Gokova is gearing up take part in joint drills in the Persian Gulf waters.

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According to a PressTV report, the vessel had docked at Hamad Port. Qatar says the proposed joint naval exercises with Turkey are a part of efforts to fight terrorism in the region.

The drills follow Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imposing a trade and diplomatic embargoes on Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.

The countries collectively demanded the removal of Turkish troops from Qatar’s soil, shutting down the broadcaster Al Jazeera, scaling back cooperation with Iran and ending ties with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Doha identified the stipulations as unreasonable and promptly rejected them, citing the directives as an effort to strongarm Qatar to surrender its sovereignty.

Ally Turkey had previously sent food aid to the Persian Gulf state. Its capital, Ankara, headed mediation efforts to settle the dispute, but it has failed to help bring the feuding sides closer to one another.

Additionally, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with several Arab nations, late last month, but without gaining any headway towards resolving the crisis.

Qatari Minister of State for Defense Affairs, Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah, told RT Arabic that his country’s military was in the final stages of preparations for joint exercises with the U.S. and Turkish forces.

He lauded the “special strategic relationship” between Qatar and Turkey, recalling that their 2015 military agreement “can’t be annulled only because some countries decided to announce a blockade of Qatar.”