with Saudi Arabia's leaders on calming tensions in the region.
Turkey has
backed Qatar after Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab states cut all economic
and diplomatic ties with Doha this month, accusing it of supporting terrorism,
a charge it denies.
Ankara has
also sought to keep up good relations with the rest of the Gulf and sources
from Erdogan's office said he spoke by phone overnight with Saudi Arabia's King
Salman and new crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, congratulating the latter on
his promotion.
"Agreement
was reached on increasing efforts towards ending tension in the region related
to Qatar," the sources said in a statement regarding the phone calls on
Thursday.
Turkey's
parliament fast-tracked legislation on June 7 to allow more troops to be
deployed to a military base in Qatar that houses Turkish soldiers under an
agreement signed in 2014.
According to
the website of the mainstream Hurriyet newspaper, 25 soldiers and five armored
vehicles were being sent to Qatar on Thursday to join 88 Turkish soldiers
already there. Turkish officials were not immediately available to comment.
After the
deployment, a joint exercise by Turkish and Qatari forces was expected
following the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday, Hurriyet said. The number of Turkish
soldiers sent to the Gulf state could eventually reach 1,000, it said, adding
that an air force contingent was also envisaged.
Economy
Minister Nihat Zeybekci said Turkey has so far sent 105 cargo planes of
supplies, but that it was not sustainable to maintain aid supplies through an
air lift.
"It is
not economical or sustainable to send normal food supplies by airplane,"
he told state-run Anadolu news agency on Wednesday, adding that it was
beginning to send aid by ships and by road. He said that alongside food
supplies, consumer durables and household goods would also be sent.
The first
Turkish ship carrying some 4,000 tonnes of dry food supplies, fruit and vegetables
set off from a port in western Turkey's Izmir province at dawn on Thursday,
Anadolu said.
It cited the
head of the logistics company delivering the supplies as saying it was expected
to arrive in Doha in around 10 days. The sources in Erdogan's office also said
he and King Salman agreed to hold face-to-face talks at the G20 meeting in
Hamburg next month.
King Salman
made his son next in line to the throne on Wednesday, handing the 31-year-old
sweeping powers as the kingdom seeks a radical overhaul of its oil-dependent
economy and faces mounting tensions with regional rival Iran.
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