President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke by phone with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Oct. 13, condemning attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on the kingdom and saying Türkiye would continue to stand by Riyadh, the Communications Directorate said.
Erdoğan offered condolences for those killed and said he was confident Saudi Arabia would overcome the challenge, according to the directorate’s statement on the NSosyal platform. Hürriyet Daily News reported that he condemned the Houthi aggression "in the strongest terms" and referred to attacks on civilian airports that have killed 12 people.
The call came a day after Erdoğan said at a Cabinet meeting that the government aimed to send the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed by Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Aug. 7, to parliament "in the coming days." The new element on Tuesday was the direct leader-level contact and a public call from Ankara’s main governing ally for military involvement.
Bahçeli calls for ‘all possible military support’
Devlet Bahçeli, chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the ruling AKP’s partner in the People’s Alliance, used his weekly address to lawmakers on Oct. 13 to urge the government to extend "all possible military support" to Saudi Arabia.
Bahçeli said Türkiye should be able to help defend the kingdom under the Mecca alliance, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all. He argued that Türkiye could not stay indifferent to Houthi strikes he said had targeted sacred sites in Mecca and other Saudi cities, and said that if diplomacy proved insufficient, "deterrent force must be used."
He also warned that escalation in Yemen threatened regional security and shipping in the Red Sea, and called for the Houthis to halt their attacks and for a lasting political settlement in Yemen.
Questions over the pact
Hürriyet Daily News noted that the recent attacks have raised questions over whether Türkiye and Pakistan would provide military assistance to Saudi Arabia under the agreement. Neither the presidency’s statement on the call nor Erdoğan’s Cabinet remarks referred to any military deployment.
At the Cabinet meeting, Erdoğan said disputes should be resolved through dialogue rather than on the battlefield and described Türkiye as an island of stability in a region troubled by conflicts from Lebanon to Yemen.
Sources
- Erdoğan discusses Houthi crisis with Saudi crown prince
- MHP: Türkiye should provide military assistance to Saudi Arabia
- Turkish president, Saudi crown prince discuss Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia
Photo: Türkischen National Versammlung / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
