Qatar's Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammad Al Atiyyah will visit Turkey on Friday and a hold meeting with his Turkish counterpart Fikri Işık, sources at Turkey's defense ministry said Thursday.

Turkey has backed Doha in its rift with four Arab states, which are boycotting the emirate over alleged support for terrorism, in what has become the worst Gulf Arab crisis in years. Qatar strongly rejects the allegations.

The Turkish parliament approved the bill on a deal between the two countries involving deployment of troops to Al-Udeid base and military training programs on June 7. Last week, Turkey deployed 23 soldiers and five armored vehicles to the base.

Shutting down the Turkish base in Qatar was among the requests delivered by Arab states to Qatar to end restrictive measures imposed on the Gulf nation.