After Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates cut ties with Qatar in early June, accusing it of supporting extremists and terrorist groups and being allied with Iran, they presented Qatar with a list of 13 demands. Among those requirements for restoring relations was to close the joint Qatari-Turkish military base in Qatar.

Turkey called the targeting of its closest Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ally “inhuman and against Islamic values.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the demand to close the base violates international law.

The ultimatum indicates how the three Gulf states punishing Qatar with embargoes see the Turks as severely undermining their efforts to pressure the Al Thani royal family into capitulation. 

Turkey not only rejected Saudi Arabia and its allies’ ultimatum but also deployed more troops to Qatar. Turkish tanks were recently seen rolling through the capital, Doha, which of course cranked up the heat under simmering tensions among the Middle East’s Sunni Muslim nations. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are all mainly Sunni, but Turkey and Qatar have friendly relations with some Sunni Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Saudis, the UAE and Egypt consider a terrorist group.