Turkey has been expanding its relations with Gulf Cooperation Council members, particularly Qatar. Turkey-Qatar relations have gained significant momentum during the past three months, led by the personal actions of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who address each other as "brother." This interesting development calls for a closer look.

When Qatar's emir visited Turkey in December 2014, the countries set up a bilateral cooperation and consultation group called the Turkey-Qatar High Strategic Committee and forged agreements on military training, the defense industry and deploying Turkish Armed Forces in Qatari territory. As a result, about 150 Turkish army, navy and special forces personnel have been stationed temporarily at a Qatari military base since October 2015, waiting for construction to be completed on a permanent Turkish base. Turkey plans to augment its force there to 3,000 personnel once the base is ready.

Erdogan and Al Thani meet frequently. The latest meeting was Dec. 18, when the emir visited Trabzon on the Black Sea.

During that trip, the men signed significant agreements regarding energy, tourism, construction, defense and security. Turkey is expected to export to Qatar $2 billion worth of armored vehicles, radars and drones, as well as assorted military equipment for communications, night/thermal optics and other uses.