Turkish President Erdoğan Visits Qatar for Meetings

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Qatar for a two-day visit that reportedly will include the signing of agreements in areas including culture, trade, investment, relief, sports, development, health, and religious affairs. The two-day gathering is the seventh meeting of the Qatari-Turkish Supreme Strategic Committee.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told a news briefing in Doha that Turkey has no plans to ask Doha for financial assistance, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was due to visit Doha on Wednesday. It is unlikely that Erdogan and the prince will meet in Doha. Turkey and Saudi Arabia have had a cooling of relations in the wake of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a team of Saudi agents in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

Thousands of Turkish soldiers are based in Doha in Turkey’s only military base in the Gulf region. In addition, hundreds of Qatari troops and 36 fighter jets are expected to be deployed temporarily to Turkey for training.