![Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar (R) and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense of Qatar Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah (L) shake hands as they pose during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey on 5 August 2019. [Arif Akdoğan - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/20190805_2_37644072_46571483-e1565852309481.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Turkey will open a new military base in Qatar this autumn, daily Hürriyet reported yesterday.
“A new Turkish base has been built near Qatar’s Tariq Ibn Ziyad military base,” Hürriyet correspondent, Hande Fırat, said, adding that the military base’s inauguration ceremony was expected to be “unveiled by the Qatari Emir and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.”
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Turkish soldiers were first deployed to Qatar in October 2015, in an attempt to contribute to the regional peace and to boost bilateral relations between Turkey and Qatar. In December 2017, the military base was named the Qatar-Turkey Combined Joint Force Command.
Since Qatar’s Arabic neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain, placed Doha under a blockade in June 2017, Turkey’s military presence has taken on greater significance.