Turkey’s parliament has approved a legislation that would allow the country, which is an ally of Qatar, to deploy its troops to a Turkish military base in Qatar. The bill, which was first drafted in May has passed with 240 votes in favor. The decision came as a support to Qatar, which is facing a major diplomatic crisis as seven countries, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Maldives, and Mauritania have severed diplomatic ties with citing Qatar’s support for extremist ideas and terrorist groups and of meddling in other countries’ affairs. The above countries have isolated Qatar by halting its access to airspace and seaports.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended Qatar despite several Gulf countries severing ties with Qatar. He doubted whether the accusations were actually true. Mr. Erdogan said that he would have personally intervened if the accusations were true. He added, "Let me say at the outset that we do not think the sanctions against Qatar are good……….Turkey will continue and will develop our ties with Qatar, as with all our friends who have supported us in the most difficult moments". He was referring to the military coup against him. He, however, didn’t criticize the countries on the opposite side of the spectrum as Turkey has good working relations with them. Instead, he said that isolating Qatar would not solve any problems and called for cool-headedness and constructive approach.