Turkiye and Qatar sign mutual defence agreement

Turkiye and Qatar have signed a mutual defence agreement, the Turkish presidency said on Friday, as President Tayyip Erdogan met Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Istanbul.

Erdogan said that the agreement would strengthen ties between the two countries. “The Mutual Defence Agreement signed today by Turkiye and Qatar would add another dimension to our brotherhood,” the presidency quoted him as saying in a statement on X.

The statement did not give details of the agreement. It said the two leaders also discussed regional security, energy and defence cooperation.

“President Erdogan stated that we would continue working together to prevent the resurgence of war in the Gulf region and establish a basis for dialogue and achieve peace,” the statement said.

It added that Turkiye and Qatar were working to develop and diversify their energy partnership, while cooperation in the defence industry would continue to grow.

The agreement comes months after Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a separate joint defence pact in Makkah in August. Under that agreement, an attack on one of the three countries is treated as an attack on all.

Turkiye’s parliament ratified the pact last week, clearing the way for Ankara to provide military support to Saudi Arabia as it faces attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants.