Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey sign the “Mecca Agreement” for joint defense.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey sign the “Mecca Agreement” for joint defense.
2026-08-07
Shafaq News – Riyadh
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the “Mecca Agreement” on Friday for joint defense, which includes confronting any aggression or armed attack on any of the three countries.
According to Saudi and Gulf media, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the agreement during the trilateral summit of the three countries in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The agreement aims to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and any armed attack on any country is considered an attack on all three countries.
The agreement also works to promote peace, security and stability in the region and beyond, in addition to developing aspects of defense cooperation among the three countries.
In this context, a Turkish official told Reuters that the agreement is defensive in nature, does not target a specific party, is open to other regional countries, and does not cancel or replace any existing bilateral or multilateral arrangements.
For his part, Abdulaziz Sager, head of the Gulf Research Center, a Saudi-based think tank, told Reuters that “the political symbolism of the summit is very significant. Three of the most influential countries in the Islamic world are meeting at a moment of increasing uncertainty, which shows a growing willingness among regional and middle powers to coordinate more closely on security issues.”
Meanwhile, Mansoor Ahmed, from the Centre for Strategic and Defence Studies at the Australian National University, told Reuters that Pakistan and Turkey are bringing strong defense industries through education, while Saudi Arabia can contribute through technology spending.
However, according to Ahmed, the agreement is unlikely to include a nuclear component, as Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence focuses on what it sees as a threat from India.
Pakistan has provided training and technical assistance to Saudi forces for decades, while Türkiye and Pakistan have exchanged warships and training aircraft, with Riyadh agreeing in 2023 to purchase Turkish drones.
Since then, Pakistan has deployed around 8,000 troops, fighter jets, drones and an air defense system to the kingdom, Reuters reported last May, while opening negotiations with Kuwait on an expanded agreement in exchange for cooperation in the fields of energy and investment, in June/July.
Since the outbreak of war in the region following the American-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, relations between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan have witnessed a remarkable rapprochement, within the framework of a four-way alliance that has played a role in mediation efforts between Tehran and Washington, seeking to contain the conflict and reach a settlement for it.
During the war, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states were subjected to Iranian missile and drone strikes, as part of Tehran’s response to attacks against it.
Meanwhile, Andreas Krieg, a professor of defense studies at King’s College London, told France 24 that the planned agreement “is one of the clearest indications that the Middle East is moving away from an exclusively American-organized security system.”
He added: “Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are not trying to replace the United States, but are working to build their capabilities to protect their interests when Washington is unable to do so, or when it does not do so.”
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