Turkish FM Rules Out Turkish Troops in Yemen Despite Saudi Defense Pact
“This is a defense agreement,” Fidan said, stressing that if one of the signatories comes under attack, the others are expected to support its defense.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Turkey will not send troops to confront Yemen’s Houthi forces despite its defense agreement with Saudi Arabia, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday.
“This is a defense agreement,” Fidan said, stressing that if one of the signatories comes under attack, the others are expected to support its defense.
“This is not an offensive agreement,” he added, saying Turkey “will not send its troops to another country's territory to launch an attack.”
The Iran-backed Houthis have launched a series of attacks on Saudi Arabia amid renewed fighting in Yemen, where the group is confronting the internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government.
Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in August. The pact commits the three countries to assist one another in the event of an attack, although it still requires ratification by the Turkish parliament.
Fidan said Turkish and Saudi military delegations would work together to assess what defensive measures may be required, without providing further details.
The agreement brings together Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest military, Saudi Arabia, a major Gulf oil producer, and Pakistan, the Muslim world’s only nuclear-armed state.
The renewed violence in the region has raised questions over whether the defence pact could draw its members into the conflict. Turkish officials, however, have repeatedly sought to downplay such concerns.
“NATO was not built in a day,” a Turkish diplomatic source told AFP last month, referring to the gradual development of cooperation among the three countries.