Manama’s expense account for arms purchases is likely to swell even further after Bahrain’s defense minister signed a memorandum of understanding with his visiting Turkish counterpart on bilateral cooperation in the arms industry.

Bahrain’s Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifah and Turkey’s Fikri Isik inked the agreement as the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the Gulf kingdom.

Erdogan’s tour of the Persian Gulf will also take him to Saudi Arabia and Qatar with discussions set to focus on political, security and economic issues

The monarchy in Manama had asked Erdogan to make Bahrain one of his stops on the tour.

The regime has recently stepped-up military and economic cooperation with the United Kingdom while using brutal methods to muffle all forms of dissent. Rights groups and a number of foreign governments have criticized Manama’s so-called allies for ignoring and whitewashing human rights abuses in the kingdom.