Bahrain Mirror: Turkish army announced on Tuesday that Ankara and Doha "successfully" concluded joint military trainings, amid an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between the small emirate and its Gulf neighbors.

The General Staff of the Republic of Turkey said in a statement that the joint exercises that aim at developing relations of friendship, cooperation and coordination between the Turkish and Qatari military forces successfully concluded.

The training exercises included two stages; a ground and naval stage, from Saturday till Monday.

The Gulf region has been witnessing a dangerous diplomatic crisis since Saudi Arabia and its allies, Bahrain, the Emirates and Egypt decided to serve their diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing Doha of supporting Islamic extremists in the region and cooperating with Iran.

Turkey is strongly supporting its main ally in the Gulf, Qatar. Ankara and Doha have worked on developing their relations in the recent years in the diplomatic, commercial and military fields.

Despite its unique relation with Qatar, Turkey seeks to maintain good relations with Saudi Arabia and to play the mediation role between the disputing parties.

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a tour to the Gulf in July to ease tensions between Qatar and neighboring countries.

Arabic Version