Turkey says it could help meet Saudi military needs under defence pact

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that it was unacceptable for Saudi Arabia to be made a part of the US-Iran war.

ANKARA – Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sept 19 that Saudi Arabia may have military needs due to the ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis and that Turkey was ready to help under a trilateral defence pact that also includes Pakistan.

“We see there are very serious attacks on Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty. We have an alliance agreement in our pact. We are in serious solidarity on this point... They may have some military needs, especially on some technical issues. We would have no issues in meeting these,” Fidan told broadcaster NTV.

The joint defence agreement, dubbed the “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement”, signed last month stipulates that an armed attack on any one of the three countries will be regarded as an attack on all of them.

The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have been launching attacks on Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, a new front in the wider war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. The attacks have targeted Saudi cities, energy infrastructure and shipping, threatening global oil supplies and the main alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted.

US President Donald Trump has rebuffed pleas from the Saudis for military support to fight the Houthis, who agreed a ceasefire with the US last year after Washington bombed the group for two months.

Fidan said that it was unacceptable for Saudi Arabia to be made a part of the US-Iran war as it had no desire to join the conflict. He added, without elaborating, that proposals have been conveyed to all sides to end the fighting.

“There are many initiatives, but the sides need to accept these,” he said. “There are new proposals, I hope they accept them. Otherwise, the crisis was tolerated until a certain point, but the economic reflections have started to exceed the point of being tolerable.”

Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army, has said the pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan and top oil exporter Saudi Arabia was open to expansion and did not seek to replace any existing alliances.

Pakistan has said that there were no discussions about a military reaction from Islamabad under the Mecca agreement in response to the Houthis’ attacks on Saudi Arabia, but added that Pakistan would act when the “time comes”.

Earlier on Sept 19, Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital Riyadh with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of smoke were seen near the city’s main airport.

Turkey has condemned the Houthi attacks and called for them to stop immediately. REUTERS