Baku, Azerbaijan, June 23
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Following 18 days of political and economic isolation of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE, these countries, through the mediation of Kuwait, sent their requirements to Doha, consisting of 13 points.
The main points of the requirements are to break diplomatic relations with Iran, shut down Al-Jazeera TV channel which has been recently criticizing the position of those Arab countries in the region, close Turkey’s Al-Rayyanmilitary base and break off all relations with Ankara.
Commenting on the requirements of the Arab countries, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said today that the Turkish military base in Qatar is exclusively an internal issue of Ankara and Doha.
The armed forces of Qatar and Turkey plan to conduct joint military exercises at the end of June. The Turkish military instructors left for Qatar June 19. The military agreement between Qatar and Turkey came into force on June 9. The document was signed in Ankara on November 10, 2016.
Al-Rayyan military base is not the first Turkish military facility outside the country. In general, the number of Turkish servicemen outside the country exceeds 6,000.
Turkey already built a military base worth $50 million in Somalia in early 2015. There are three military schools at the Turkish military base in the territory of Somalia. Although Western media reports that there are two secret US military bases in Somalia, this information has not yet been confirmed.
Turkey has also military bases in Northern Cyprus and in Iraq’s town of Bashiqa.
After the Turkish forces with tanks entered the Iraqi province of Nineveh December 4, 2015 with the aim of training of Kurdish militants fighting against the “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist group, the foreign ministers of the League of Arab States (LAS) held an emergency meeting to discuss the presence of the Turkish military contingent in Iraq.
Thus, the Arab rulers have been concerned for a long time about the presence of the Turkish military contingent in Arab countries.
However, if Iraq openly opposed the presence of the Turkish servicemen, then Qatar itself called Turkey for establishing a military base in its territory.
Nevertheless, Qatar has 10 days to fulfill all the requirements and it is difficult to predict "surprises" which are being prepared by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain for Doha and Ankara. However, one thing is obvious. The Arab countries began to oust Turkey from the region.
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