Turkey plans mandate to send military personnel to Saudi Arabia, ruling party official says

ANKARA, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Turkey will submit to parliament a mandate allowing for military personnel to be deployed to Saudi Arabia under its joint defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, a lawmaker from the ruling AK Party told Reuters on Wednesday.

The lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the mandate would be sent to parliament once a bill ratifying the accord has been approved.

Turkey submitted the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement — signed by the three countries in August — to parliament for ratification on Tuesday, moving NATO's second-largest army closer to a formal mutual defence pledge with Riyadh as it faces Houthi attacks.

The AKP lawmaker said that no Turkish troops deployed to other countries under the pact would take part in offensive operations, adding that technical personnel and experts would be sent initially to help with airdefences, electronic warfare technologies, and other defensive support.

Earlier, two officials had told Reuters that Turkey's contribution was expected to be limited to military equipment, intelligence sharing and weapons systems, adding that no other form of deployment had taken place under the alliance so far.

Turkey, which has condemned the Houthi attacks, has also agreed to join a Saudi-led coalition to ensure navigational safety in the Red Sea.

(Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren Butler, Tomasz Janowski, Aidan Lewis)