Turkey ready to support Saudi Arabia under defense pact: FM

Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday Saudi Arabia may have military demands due to continuing strikes by Yemen’s Houthis and that Turkey was ready to help under a trilateral defense deal that also involves Pakistan.We see extremely significant threats on the territorial integrity, sovereignty of Saudi Arabia. We have an agreement of partnership in our pact. . . . real solidarity on this issue. . . They might have some military demands, especially regarding certain technical questions. “We would have no problem to meet these,” Fidan told a TV program.

The collective defense pact, named the “Makkah Joint Defense Agreement” and signed last month, states that an armed strike against any of the three nations will be considered an attack against all of them.

The Houthis, who hold the most populated sections of Yemen, have been attacking Saudi Arabia since establishing 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 strikes have hit Saudi cities, energy infrastructure and shipping, threatening world oil supplies and the primary alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports as traffic via the Strait of Hormuz remains interrupted.

US President Donald Trump has rejected Saudi requests for military help to battle the Houthis, who reached a ceasefire with the US last year after Washington attacked the group for two months.

Saudi Arabia does not want to be dragged into the US-Iran war, it does not want to be a part of it, Fidan said. He said approaches had been made to all sides to cease the hostilities, without elaborating.There are many initiatives but they have to be accepted by the sides,” he remarked. There are new proposals, I hope they go with them. Otherwise, the crisis was accepted up to a certain extent, but the economic repercussions have started to go beyond the limit of being reasonable.

Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army, said its accord with nuclear-armed Pakistan and top oil exporter Saudi Arabia was open to expansion and was not looking to supplant any existing alliances.

The Houthis of Yemen announced earlier on Saturday they had targeted “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital Riyadh with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a big plume of smoke were spotted near the city’s main airport.

Turkiye criticized the actions of Houthis and demanded them to be stopped immediately.