{"id":2344,"date":"2026-10-08T18:03:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2344"},"modified":"2026-10-08T18:03:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:03:45","slug":"turkiyes-foreign-minister-says-ankara-weighing-saudi-defence-support-rules-out-offensive-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2344","title":{"rendered":"Turkiye’s foreign minister says Ankara weighing Saudi defence support, rules out offensive role"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Turkiye is assessing how it can help Saudi Arabia defend against attacks by Yemen\u2019s Houthi under a joint defence pact \u200bwith Pakistan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday, ruling out Turkish \u200cparticipation in offensive operations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in August, under which an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all.<\/p>\n

The three countries have since held political and military meetings in response to the Houthi attacks.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the countries said \u200bthey had agreed to move immediately to implement their collective defence commitments \u2060and ensure the \u201crapid deployment\u201d of military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a joint \u200bpress conference with his Hungarian counterpart Anita Orban in Ankara, Fidan stressed that the pact \u200bwas defensive rather than offensive, saying military officials were assessing possible contributions, particularly in air defence, electronic warfare and technical support.<\/p>\n

\u201cYemen\u2019s legitimate government forces are already continuing the battle on the ground and Saudi Arabia \u200bis supporting them,\u201d Fidan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is a defensive agreement. When a country party \u200bto the pact comes under attack, you stand by it in its defence. This is not an offensive \u200cagreement. \u2060Turkiye will not send troops to another country to carry out attacks on its territory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fidan said military delegations would determine Saudi Arabia\u2019s operational defence needs and what contributions Turkiye and Pakistan could make.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, two officials told Reuters<\/em> that Turkiye was sending mainly defensive and technical support to \u200bSaudi Arabia to help \u2060its fight with Houthi militants.<\/p>\n

Turkish officials have said any support provided at this stage would largely be in a bilateral capacity, as \u200bTurkiye\u2019s parliament has not officially ratified the joint defence pact.<\/p>\n

Fidan said \u200bon Thursday that \u2060work was largely completed for the agreement to be submitted for parliament\u2019s approval and that they aimed to send it \u201cas soon as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Turkiye, which has NATO\u2019s second-largest army and a robust \u2060defence industry, \u200bhas condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, voiced willingness \u200bto help meet Riyadh\u2019s technical military needs, and agreed to join a Saudi-led coalition to ensure navigational safety \u200bin the Red Sea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkiye is assessing how it can help Saudi Arabia defend against attacks by Yemen\u2019s Houthi under a joint defence pact \u200bwith Pakistan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday, ruling out Turkish \u200cparticipation in offensive operations. Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in August, under which an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all. The three countries have since held political and military meetings in response to the Houthi attacks. On Monday, the countries said \u200bthey had agreed to move immediately…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}