Saudi Arabia said Saturday a Turkish military base similar to that built in neighbouring Qatar would not be welcome in the kingdom, insisting it is "not needed".
"The kingdom cannot allow Turkey to set up a military base on its territory," said a statement carried by SPA state news agency. The statement, quoting an unnamed official, said Saudi Arabia "does not need such thing", adding that its armed forces and military capabilities were "at the best standards".
The statement came days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Portuguese broadcaster RTP that he had offered to build a military base in Saudi Arabia shortly after work began on Turkey's facility in Qatar in 2014.
"I made the same offer to King Salman ... and said that if it's appropriate we could also establish a base in Saudi Arabia. They said they would look into it but since that day nothing more came," he said.
In early June, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) broke off relations with Doha and suspended all land, air and sea traffic with the monarchy. In their apparent bid to secure US support and that of Israel, the four countries cited Qatar's links with the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas and accused it of supporting terrorism. Qatar has denied the allegations, calling them unfounded.
Just two days after that, the Turkish parliament approved the deployment of troops to the base in Qatar.
