The first joint drills took place on Sunday at the Tariq bin Ziyad military camp in Doha, Qatar's defence ministry said in a statement. It reported that additional Turkish troops had arrived in Qatar on Sunday for the exercises, although military sources in the region said the operation actually involved Turkish troops that were already present rather than new arrivals.
The exercises aim to raise "Qatari and Turkish fighting efficiency amid plans for joint operations to fight extremism and terrorism, as well as peacekeeping operations before and after military operations," said the statement. The drills had "been planned for some time" added the statement. Qatar's state-run news channel Al Jazeera showed footage of a column of armoured personnel carriers moving through the streets.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and other countries have cut ties with Qatar over accusations the emirate supports extremism.
Doha denies the accusations and says measures imposed on Qatar by its Gulf neighbours amount to a "blockade". Turkey is one of Qatar's strongest allies.
In a show of support for Qatar, Turkey's parliament fast-tracked legislation on June 7 to allow more troops to be deployed to a military base in Qatar that houses about 90 Turkish soldiers under an agreement signed in 2016. Turkey has said it will deploy 3,000 ground troops at the base, primarily to serve as a venue for joint training exercises.
It has also increased food supplies to Qatar after the emirate's land border was closed.
Last week, Qatar's navy carried out three days of joint training exercises with the US Navy.
