Qatar and Turkiye have entered into a mutual defence pact which will see them “coordinate and adopt the necessary measures to face any external armed attack against them”, amid ongoing volatile tensions across the Middle East region, Al Jazeera reported.
It was signed Friday during negotiations in Istanbul with the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the statement said after the countries’ 12th Supreme Strategic Committee meeting.
They undertook to consult each other on security threats as well as regional and global defence issues. The two countries also committed themselves to enhance defence cooperation by conducting joint military exercises, defence industry ventures and training exchanges.
The deal is said to reinforce a common defence, protect the territorial integrity of the countries and contribute to stability in the region. The statement did not indicate how the mutual defence pledge would be carried out.
“Both countries, based on this level of relations, will carry on their efforts for stability and security in the Gulf, to avoid a new outbreak of war there and for negotiation and peace,” Erdogan said, according to the Turkish presidency.
This pact comes a month after Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed their own defence pact in August.
