Mecca defence pact unites Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye

Ankara,UPDATED: Aug 9, 2026 01:54 IST

Turkiye's foreign minister has said a new defence agreement between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye is not aimed at Iran or any other country, and described it as an important step towards regional stability.

The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed on Friday in the Saudi holy city of Mecca by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Under the pact, an attack on one country will be treated as an attack on all three. The agreement brings together oil-rich Saudi Arabia, nuclear power Pakistan and Turkiye, which has NATO's second-largest army and a fast-growing defence industry, at a time of increased regional uncertainty and threats from the war in Iran.

In an interview with Turkiye's state-run Anadolu Agency, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the three countries do not view any particular state as an adversary unless it takes hostile action against them.

"We don't have anything written down - nothing we've signed - that defines a common threat," Fidan said. "Any country that does not attack us is not a target for us."

Fidan said the agreement's mutual defence clause was "technically the same" as NATO's Article 5, under which an attack on one of the 32 members is considered an attack on them all. Asked how the mechanism would work, he said a member country would have to formally request help, and the response from the other two could range from intelligence sharing to logistical support or the deployment of military units, depending on the threat.

"These are multi-layered matters that vary according to the scale of the threat," Fidan said. "This is the perspective we have set out so far in our work."

The Turkish minister also said other countries, which he did not name, had shown interest in joining the agreement. He added that he expected Egypt, which he described as a "natural partner", to take part "at the next stage".

Under the deal, the foreign and defence ministers of the three countries, along with their military chiefs, will hold regular committee meetings. They will also set up a secretariat based in Saudi Arabia, as the three countries move to deepen defence cooperation under the new pact.

With PTI Inputs

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