In contact with Mohammed bin Salman.. Erdogan condemns the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Erdogan stressed that “Türkiye condemns in the strongest terms the Houthi attacks targeting Saudi territory, and expressed his regret and condolences to those who lost their lives,” according to the official Turkish network TRT.

The Turkish President stressed that "his country will remain alongside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the next stage as well, and expressed his conviction that these tests will be passed." Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Thursday that the “Mecca Pact” agreement is “defensive, not offensive,” indicating that his country “will not send forces to the territory of another country to launch an attack from there,” according to what was reported by the Turkish “Anatolia” news agency.

The Turkish Foreign Minister added, in a joint press conference with the Deputy Prime Minister and Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban in the Turkish capital, Ankara: “When a state party to the Mecca Pact agreement is attacked, it stands by its side to defend it, as it is not an attack agreement.” The “Mecca Pact” agreement, which was published by the official Saudi Press Agency last August, stipulates that “the agreement aims to strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression,” and it also stipulates that “any armed attack on any of the three countries is an attack on all of them, and the agreement is also concerned with developing all aspects of defense cooperation between them.”

The pace of attacks by the Yemeni Houthi group, allied with Iran, on Saudi Arabia escalated during the past week, targeting airports and vital installations, resulting in deaths and hundreds of injuries, in a development that kept King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh closed.