Turkey seeks influence in Yemen by freezing assets of Saleh, Houthi leaders

Turkey is seeking to boost its influence in Yemen. However, its political objective is to back Islamist groups in Yemen, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood’s Al-Islah Party and the terrorist Houthi militias.

Many of Yemeni Brotherhood’s leaders live in Turkey. Moreover, there are ties between Turkey and the Houthis through a Qatari mediation.

Turkey has frozen the assets of three senior Yemeni Houthi militia leaders in line with U.N. Security Council sanctions against the Houthi militias, Anadolu news agency reported.

Turkey’s official gazette said on Thursday that sanctions had been imposed on five Yemenis, including late president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Houthi leader Abdulmalek al-Houthi.

The list included late president Ali Abdullah Saleh and his son Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, in addition to Abdulmalek al-Houthi and two military commanders Abd al-Khaliq al-Houthi and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim.

Turkey’s Official Gazette also listed slain President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his son Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose assets in Turkish banks and other financial institutions have been already temporarily frozen since 2016.

The decision seems to show Turkey’s support to the legitimate government in Yemen against the Houthis. However, what the Turkish government is doing is absolutely the opposite.

Kamel al-Khoudani, a Yemeni politician and leader of the General People’s Congress (GPC), said Turkey wanted to appear on the Yemeni scene by such decisions.

“This happens under Erdogan’s policy, which is aimed at interfering in the Arab countries to spread chaos. The Turkish policy is backed by Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Houthi militias,” al-Khoudani told THE REFERENCE.

“The freezing of Houthi accounts is a way Erdogan is trying to fool the Yemeni and Arab public opinion as Turkey provides the Houthis with material and political support. We know about flights between Doha, Ankara, Beirut and Tehran for the support of the Houthi militias,” he said.

“The Yemenis are well aware of the Turkish-Iranian-Qatari schemes for Yemen. The Yemenis are determined to put an end to these plots to restore Yemen’s role in supporting Arab national security,” he added.