Turkey Parliament approves troops deployment to Qatar
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - The Turkish Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill, giving the government authorization to deploy troops to Qatar, the Arab mini-state that this week came under a swift diplomatic and commercial embargo from its Gulf neighbors.
Lawmakers from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) which dominates the Parliament approved the resolution, said Kurdistan24 Ankara Bureau.
The mandate did not specify how many soldiers will serve in Qatar where Turkey in 2015 decided to build at least one military base.
Ankara’s rush to back Qatar came as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Mauritania and several other smaller nations severed their ties with the peninsula nation.
Arab countries cut diplomatic relations with Qatar, declared its ambassadors and citizens unwanted while closing their airspace to commercial flights out of and into the country, alleging it was funding Islamist groups.
Qatar has rejected the accusations.
According to the plan, Turkish army will also be on a mission of training and advising Qatari troops.
As the crisis with Qatar unfolded, the Turkish Parliament gave priority to the bill designating the deployment of soldiers.
However, the opposition criticized the decision to stand by Qatar.
“With these agreements, Turkey is making a choice, and by standing by Qatar, it is taking on the other countries. This is a wrong policy,” the Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy head and lawmaker Ozturk Yilmaz told Reuters.
“How will you be a mediator if you are taking sides?” asked Yilmaz who previously served as Turkey’s consul general to the Iraqi city of Mosul before it fell to the Islamic State (IS) group.
The leader of the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) block at the Parliament Filiz Kerestecioglu questioned the government’s financial dealings with Qatar.
The HDP lawmaker accused Turkey of pursuing an “aggressive” sectarian Sunni policy in the Middle East at a press conference before the parliamentary voting took place.
Editing by Ava Homa