Turkey and Qatar sign agreements on trade, military

Turkey and Qatar signed a series of agreements on Thursday ranging from trade facilitation to military and technical cooperation during Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani's visit to President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

Erdogan and al Thani were co-chairing the Turkey-Qatar High Strategic Committee meeting.

Al Thani's visit, focused on investment and trade, comes after Doha said at the weekend it had told Hamas and Israel it will stall efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until they show willingness and seriousness.

Turkey, which fiercely criticised Israel over its offensives in Gaza and in Lebanon, does not deem the Palestinian militant group Hamas a terrorist group, and some of its political officials regularly visit Turkey.