Turkey's President Erdogan backs Qatar, says Arab states' demands to shut military base 'disrespectful'

Turkish President Tayyip Ergodan said on Sunday he backed Qatar's response to a list of demands issued by Arab states which have been boycotting the Gulf emirate, and said calls for a Turkish military base there to close were disrespectful.

Erdogan said Turkey had also offered to set up a military base in Saudi Arabia - one of the four countries which issued the ultimatum to Qatar - but Riyadh had not responded.

"Even though they still didn't come back to us on this, asking Turkey to pull back its troops (from Qatar) is disrespectful against Turkey," Erdogan said.