Turkey's parliament is expected on June 7 to fast-track a draft bill allowing troops to be deployed to a Turkish military base in Qatar, officials from the ruling AK Party and the nationalist opposition MHP told Reuters.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 6 criticised the move by several Gulf Cooperation Council nations to blockade and isolate Qatar over its claimed support for certain terrorist groups. While offering mediation to help diffuse the tensions, Erdogan also vowed to maintain and improve Turkey’s ties with the Doha government.

Lawmakers from the ruling party have proposed debating two pieces of legislation drawn up before the crisis erupted. They would allow the deployment of Turkish troops in Qatar and approve an accord between Ankara and Doha on military training cooperation, officials from the AKP and MHP also told Reuters.

The main stock exchange index, the BIST-100, fell 0.9% on the news while the lira weakened 0.4% against the greenback to trade at 3.5332 per dollar as of 17:00 Istanbul time on June 7.

Parliament is likely to approve the bill since the AKP and MHP have a majority in the assembly.

Ankara and Doha signed an agreement back in 2014 that allowed Turkey to set up a military base in Qatar. In 2016, then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutgolu visited some 150 Turkish troops stationed at the base.

Ahmet Demirok, Turkey's ambassador to Qatar at the time, said in an interview with Reuters in late 2015 that 3,000 ground troops would eventually be deployed at the base, planned primarily as a place for joint training exercises.

It remains to be seen how Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, which have cut diplomatic ties with the Doha government amid the row, will respond to Turkey’s move to deploy troops in Qatar.

On a related note, Qatar is in talks with Iran and Turkey to secure food and water supplies, news agencies reported on June 7. The supplies would be brought in on Qatar Airways cargo flights, a Qatari official reportedly said.