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Qatar: No one has right to demand closure of Turkish base

July 18, 2017 at 7:30 pm

Qatar’s Defence Minister Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah said no country has the right to call for the closure of the Turkish base in Doha.

In an interview with TRT World aired late Monday, al-Attiyah said everyone knew about the Turkish base in Qatar a long time ago.

#QatarGate

“Unfortunately, we did not choose the time to attack, besiege and boycott Qatar, they (Saudi-led bloc) did choose the time so they cannot come and ask us to close a base where everybody knows about it from a long time back and this is considered a relation between two sovereign state countries,” he said.

Doha and Ankara signed a defence agreement in 2014 under which Turkey established a base in the Gulf country at the request of the Qatari government.

Last month, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, and imposed a sea and land blockade on it, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.

Read: Erdogan sets a condition for Turkish troops to leave Qatar

The four states presented a list of demands for Qatar to end the blockade, including the closure of the Al Jazeera television and the Turkish base in Doha, or face further sanctions.

Doha denies the accusation, saying the blockade is a violation of international law.