Turkey and Qatar sign a mutual defence agreement among five deals as Erdoğan hosts the emir in Istanbul

Five agreements at Dolmabahçe

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcomed Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with an official ceremony at the presidential office in Dolmabahçe, Istanbul, on Friday, Hürriyet, NTV and A Haber reported. The leaders met alone and then with their delegations, behind closed doors.

Afterwards, at the 12th meeting of the Turkey–Qatar Supreme Strategic Committee, the two countries signed five agreements covering trade, education, diplomacy and defence. Erdoğan and the emir signed the mutual defence agreement themselves. Trade Minister Ömer Bolat signed a memorandum on consumer protection and market surveillance, and Education Minister Yusuf Tekin an agreement on cooperation in education.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, signed a memorandum on cooperation in peace, reconciliation and conflict resolution, as well as the committee’s joint declaration. Turkey’s delegation also included the finance, defence and industry ministers and the intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın, A Haber said.

What Erdoğan said

According to the Presidency’s Directorate of Communications, Erdoğan told the emir the defence agreement would add another dimension to the two countries’ brotherhood, and that a trade and economic partnership agreement that took effect last year had brought them closer to their target for bilateral trade.

He said Turkey wanted to develop and diversify its energy partnership with Qatar and that cooperation in the defence industry would keep growing. The leaders also discussed Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the humanitarian situation there, Syria’s steps towards normalisation and the latest situation in Libya.

A Gulf looking for guarantees

Erdoğan said the two countries would keep working together to prevent war from flaring up again in the Gulf and to persuade the parties to settle their disputes through diplomacy. The emir was in Turkey after attending the COP31 leaders’ summit in Antalya, A Haber noted.

Diken quoted the security analyst Yusuf Alabarda, speaking to Al Jazeera, as saying that since the Iran war began no one in the region felt safe.

“All the Gulf countries, Qatar above all, have understood that US security guarantees are not working properly. Turkish soldiers in Qatar have a very important role.”

Yusuf Alabarda, security analyst, Diken(translated)

Alabarda added that he expected Turkish weapons and air defence systems could soon be deployed for Qatar’s security, and that the agreement would advance military cooperation.