Full story
Mecca pact signed Friday
Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in Mecca on Friday, with the pact intended to strengthen collective deterrence and stipulating that an armed attack against any one of the three states would be regarded as an attack on all.
“technically the same as NATO's Article 5 mutual defence agreement”
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Anadolu that the defence pact was “technically the same as NATO's Article 5 mutual defence agreement,” and said the accord was “not targeting Iran.”
Reuters reported the agreement was signed against a backdrop in which a regional conflagration had brought Iranian missile fire onto Gulf oil exporters, and it said the accord was not meant to replace existing alliances.
The BBC said the pact was announced at a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the Saudi city of Mecca, and that it aimed to “strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression.”
US role questioned, Iran reacts
Al Jazeera framed the Mecca pact as raising questions about the shifting geopolitical landscape of the Middle East, where fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran has prompted some countries to seek new arrangements to safeguard their security.
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, told Al Jazeera over email that “Regional states have harbored growing doubts about the reliability of the US security partnership for more than a decade.”
In Tehran, the BBC reported sharp reaction, including a senior member of parliament writing on X that “The Saudis should know that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan does not bring them security.”
The AP reported that Iran criticizes the deal, while a statement from Saudi Arabia insisted the agreement does not represent “any orientation toward building a military axis or sectarian/religious bloc.”
Deterrence, possible expansion
The BBC said the Mecca agreement provides no specifics on the obligations of each party, while a Turkish official quoted by Reuters described it as “purely defensive in nature.”
“purely defensive in nature”
Reuters reported that Fidan said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wanted to see the alliance expand, and that Egypt was a potential candidate to join, among others.
DW reported that Fidan said the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement is not directed against Iran and could, in the future, include Egypt, and it quoted him saying “No country that does not attack us will be our target.”
Al-Monitor described the pact as a collective defence commitment signed in Mecca on Friday against the backdrop of the Iran conflict, and it quoted Saudi deputy minister for public diplomacy Rayed Krimly stressing that the agreement did not “represent an effort to establish a military axis or a sectarian bloc.”
