Abdullah Bozkurt
The Turkish government plans to augment its military base in Qatar with naval and air assets in addition to land troops, expanding what was started as a small base into a joint force headquarters by the end of 2019, a secret government document has revealed.
According to the document, classified as secret and prepared in both Turkish and English for policymakers in Turkey and Qatar, the total force projection for the Doha base by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is projected to be 2,800 troops by December 2019. The document, which includes slides in a PowerPoint presentation, was titled “Road Map” and marks every step of implementation according to a timetable from 2016 to 2019.
English version of the Road Map to establish a Turkish military base in Qatar:
By the time the project is completed, Turkey will have 1,434 troops from the Land Forces, 272 from the Air Forces and 228 from the Naval Forces. The joint headquarters will be staffed by 108 personnel, and a support group of 758 will be employed to provide assistance to the forces.
According to the document, the negotiations meeting between the Turkish and Qatari teams took place on February 17, 2016 in Ankara. That was followed by further talks as land in Doha was allocated and construction work was planned. The Turkish Cabinet decision would be taken in July 2016. By year end, the project envisaged the deployment of 186 Turkish troops in Qatar, which was limited to Land Forces only. In 2017, the size of the forces was planned to be increased to 496. The deployment was projected to be 1,254 in 2018.
The Turkish army is also scheduled to participate in military exercises known as al-Nasr and conducted by the Qatar Armed Forces (QAF) according to the road map.
The base has the capacity to accommodate 3,000 troops.
An anti-Qatar bloc led by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates demanded that Qatar shut down the Turkish base.
Turkish version of the Road Map:
