Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan Sign Joint Defense Pact in Mecca

Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan signed a joint defense pact on Friday (August 7) in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, against the backdrop of escalating Middle East tensions from the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The agreement, named the "Mecca Mutual Deterrence Agreement," was signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

According to a joint statement, the pact aims to provide collective deterrence against any aggression, stipulating that an armed attack on any of the three nations will be considered an attack on all. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry emphasized that the agreement is driven by the long-standing historical ties among the three countries, based on strong brotherhood and Islamic solidarity, and reflects a shared commitment to enhancing collective security and promoting peace and stability in the region and beyond.

The deal was signed one day after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief of Staff Asim Munir arrived in Saudi Arabia and performed the Umrah ritual in Mecca. President Erdogan also traveled to Saudi Arabia on Friday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Why was the pact signed now?

The defense agreement between Ankara, Riyadh, and Islamabad has been in preparation for a long time. Talks began shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel's subsequent genocidal war in Gaza, and accelerated amid the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran.

While Turkey and Pakistan have not been directly affected by regional tensions, Saudi Arabia, which hosts US military assets and bases, has come under attacks from Iran and the Houthi forces in Yemen. Tehran has also struck other Gulf states and Jordan.

Al Jazeera's Ankara correspondent, Resul Serdar, quoting officials, said the escalation of regional tensions has forced the countries to draw closer. "After October 7, the region has been completely changed by Israel's actions and expansionism. Now there is a crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing attacks on Iran, as well as Iran's responses to regional countries," he said. "There are multiple layers of converging requirements that have compelled these three major nations to come together and sign this binding agreement."

On March 19, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia met in Riyadh during an Islamic summit to discuss the common security agreement. Earlier, in September 2025, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia also signed a joint defense agreement following Israel's attack on Doha, Qatar.

What does the pact include?

The trilateral agreement builds on existing pacts between Ankara and Islamabad, aiming to leverage each nation's military and financial strengths. Turkey has NATO's second-largest army, Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil exporter, and Pakistan is the only Islamic nation with nuclear weapons.

Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, executive director of the German Marshall Fund's South and Enlarged Europe office in the US, said the three bring complementary strengths, "including Turkey's defense industry capabilities, Saudi Arabia's financial power and influence, and Pakistan's military experience and strategic deterrence capabilities." He stressed that it is a framework for closer coordination in strategy, military, and defense industry, not a common defense treaty comparable to NATO.

Murat Aslan, associate professor of international politics at Hasan Kalyoncu University in Turkey, said the pact could include defense "capacity building." "Saudi Arabia has depended on imports of defense products, weapons, and equipment from the US for decades. That is not cost-effective, and they need to build a domestic defense industry," he said.

The pact essentially places three major Islamic communities on a common path toward peace, preventing any aggression, enhancing intelligence sharing, and fostering cooperation in energy, defense spending, and manufacturing. "Combined, the three nations create a force that takes the region to a different security architecture than in past decades, especially in the context of the Iran war," commented Osama bin Javaid, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Doha.

Reactions from Iran and Israel

Iranian leadership has not made an official statement. However, Iranian parliamentarian Ebrahim Rezaei criticized the pact on social media platform X: "The Saudis must know that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan will not bring them security, just as years of one-sided dependence on the US did not. Reform your policies so you do not have to beg others for security."

Israel has not commented. A Turkish official told Reuters that the agreement is defensive, not aimed at any specific party, and open for other regional countries to join. However, the three nations are known to be deeply concerned about Israel's growing influence and attacks in the region.

In early July, President Erdogan declared that Israel is not allowed to "spoil" the US-Iran agreement, accusing the Israeli government of being "addicted to war" and trying to immerse the region in gunpowder and blood. Pakistan has condemned Israel's genocidal war in Gaza, where more than 71,000 people have been killed since October 2023, and has played a mediating role in the US-Israeli war with Iran to prevent a regional war.

In a July 20 report, Yasmine Farouk, director of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Project at the International Crisis Group, wrote that tighter defense relations between Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and also Egypt reflect a hard-earned realization that "security in their neighborhood cannot be left to the competition between the US-Israel, on one side, and Iran, on the other." She noted many officials had concluded this before the US and Israel launched their attack on Iran in late February, but the war and Iran's retaliations have added new urgency. Some Israeli and US commentators, however, view this move as an "anti-Israel Sunni bloc."