Erdoğan Sends the Mecca Pact to Parliament While Ankara Rules Out an Attack on the Houthis

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday that Turkey is working to send the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement to parliament “in the coming days”, two days after a Houthi missile struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Speaking after a Cabinet meeting in Ankara, he said: “We strongly condemn Houthi attacks targeting the main airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh, which killed 12 people.” His foreign minister had said days earlier that the pact would not take Turkish soldiers into Yemen.

Washington condemned the strike, Tehran offered to mediate, and Ankara announced a legal step. Earlier pieces on this site covered the activation of the pact and Iran’s mediation offer. This one covers what Monday added.

Erdoğan moved the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement toward Turkish law on 12 October. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had already called the pact defensive and said Turkey will not send troops into another country to attack. Marco Rubio condemned the airport strike and demanded that it stop, and the reports quoted here mention no American action. Iran offered Saudi Arabia a political track. Outlets give the death toll as 12 or 13.

Erdoğan spoke at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. Daily Sabah quoted him as saying “We want peace and stability across our entire region”, and reported that work is underway to send the pact to parliament so that domestic approval can be completed. ANews reported that he called the attacks “unlawful and inhumane” and offered condolences to the dead, including people performing Umrah.

Daily Sabah wrote that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed the pact in August. On 5 October, their defence and foreign ministers met in Riyadh. Hürriyet Daily News reported that they agreed to “activate collective deterrence measures”. The joint statement, issued through Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, promised to “provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment” under “approved arrangements” and each country’s domestic laws.

Three days later Fidan set the limits. Hürriyet reported that he said: “This is not an offensive pact.” He added: “Türkiye will not send troops into another country’s territory to carry out an attack.” In the same report, he said Ankara was assessing how to help with Saudi defence and that preparations to submit the agreement to parliament were nearly complete.

Pakistan drew a similar line, according to Hürriyet. Its Information Ministry called a New York Times report that Pakistani jets joined strikes on the Houthis “fake and fabricated”. Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told CNN that Pakistani forces were already in Saudi Arabia, and that their presence dated back decades.

Rubio spoke on Saturday night. JNS reported that his statement began: “The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis”. He spoke of a “blatant disregard for innocent civilian life” and said: “They must stop now.” JNS reported that an American citizen was among the dead, and gave the toll as at least 12 dead and more than 300 wounded. Al Jazeera reported 13 dead without naming a source.

Iran’s foreign ministry said Abbas Araghchi told Prince Faisal bin Farhan by phone on Sunday: “Insisting on a military approach and disregarding a political solution would only further complicate the situation.” Al Jazeera reported that the ministry’s spokesman, Esmaiel Baghaei, said on Monday: “We do not want hostilities to continue between two Muslim countries.” According to Al Jazeera, Saudi state media said only that the ministers discussed the escalation.

The dates run in a line. Riyadh announced the pact’s activation on 5 October, Fidan limited it to defence on 8 October, and Erdoğan announced the parliamentary step on 12 October. Fidan said Turkey “will not send troops into another country’s territory to carry out an attack”, and Erdoğan’s Monday remarks, as reported, did not revisit that point.

The American statement carries no such commitment. Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute wrote on 12 October of “Washington’s reluctance to reopen a sustained Yemen campaign while heavily committed elsewhere in the region.” She also wrote that “Saudi Arabia, with international support, has resumed its futile assault on Yemen.”

Araghchi’s call came the evening after Rubio’s statement. Alexandru Hudisteanu, a military and maritime analyst, told Al Jazeera: “There is a high probability that Iran is behind these particular set of attacks.” Araghchi’s offer, in the ministry’s words, was a readiness to help start dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Syria was named as another possible contributor. Axios, citing three US officials, reported that Riyadh and Damascus were discussing sending Syrian troops to Yemen. Ahmad Zaidan, a media adviser to President Ahmed al-Sharaa, called the reports “lies”, according to Hürriyet. Syria’s Foreign Media Department told the same outlet that Damascus was focused on rebuilding and avoiding new fronts.

Parliament is the step Erdoğan controls. A vote would give Ankara the legal basis for the deployment that the Riyadh joint statement promised “under approved arrangements”. Fidan’s condition on attacks sits alongside it.

The first marker is the text sent to the Turkish parliament and the date of the vote. A bill that repeats Fidan’s wording would confirm the limit he described on 8 October. The second is any published troop number or arrival schedule; Hürriyet’s account of the Riyadh meeting gave neither. The third is whether Riyadh answers Araghchi’s offer, since Saudi state media, as Al Jazeera described its report, said only that the ministers discussed the escalation.

Until a Turkish or Pakistani unit is named in a published order, the pact stays a promise of defence. Fidan has said as much in public.