Turkey's Erdogan: Brotherhood Leaders Welcome

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited seven Muslim Brotherhood leaders ousted from Qatar to come live in Turkey.

Erdogan reportedly made the statement to journalists traveling to Turkey with him following a state visit to Qatar.

According to Israeli media, a London-based Muslim Brotherhood leader said Qatar asked the men to leave at the behest of several Gulf States.

On Monday, Hamas denied that the Qatari government asked Khaled Meshaal to relocate because of his close ties with the Brotherhood.

Hamas is an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Meshaal, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, left Damascus in 2012 after Gaza-based Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh declared support for Islamist rebels fighting the Assad regime in Syria's civil war. The move also caused a rift with Iran.

Following a visit to Tunisia last week, rumor had it that Meshaal was considering relocating yet again, if not to Tunisia then perhaps to Lebanon or Turkey.

Meshaal relocated to Damascus after being expelled from Jordan a little over a decade earlier.