Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Türkiye is prepared to facilitate dialogue between Yemen’s warring factions.
According to foreign media, during a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Erdogan expressed his country’s readiness to support efforts to bring together the parties at odds in Yemen, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency. He stressed that Türkiye is closely following developments and underscored the importance of protecting Yemen’s territorial integrity.
Yemen has seen escalating tensions within the Saudi-backed anti-Houthi alliance since December 2025, after the Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized the oil-rich Hadramout and Al-Mahrah governorates. Together, these regions make up nearly half of Yemen’s landmass and share strategic borders with Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Riyadh considers these areas a critical “red line” due to their proximity to its southern border and their concentration of Yemen’s energy resources. In response, Saudi Arabia backed the internationally recognized Yemeni government and launched a large-scale military operation, including intensified air and ground strikes.
Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since 2014, when Houthi forces captured Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition intervention in 2015. The Southern Transitional Council, formed in 2017, seeks southern self-determination and eventual independence, and despite joining the Saudi-led coalition and the Presidential Leadership Council in 2022, continues to press for sovereignty, sparking recurring disputes over power-sharing and resource control.