Turkey: The Mecca pact committee will meet in Riyadh on October 5

Turkey’s foreign ministry has announced that a committee of the Mecca defence pact between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will hold talks in Riyadh on Monday, October 5.

The leader of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government announced on Sunday the start of a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthis earlier on Sunday, aiming to take territory under their control.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister said on Friday that Iran had suggested the political engagement of Yemen’s Houthis after the group’s attacks, an idea that the Mecca defence pact committee would discuss at a meeting in Riyadh this week.

"The meeting will address the latest developments in the region and the stage reached in the efforts to institutionalise the Alliance," the Turkish statement said.

The announcement said that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of the General Staff, General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, will take part in the meeting of the pact’s strategic political and defence committee, together with officials from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.