Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed joint defence agreement in Mecca on Friday, reported as 'Mecca Joint Defence Agreement'

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca on Friday, reported as the 'Mecca Joint Defence Agreement,' according to Pakistan's foreign ministry and Saudi broadcasters.^[6][7]

Earlier on Friday, multiple outlets citing sources said Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will sign a joint defence agreement, described variously as a defense pact and a trilateral defence pact.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

The signing was expected in Saudi Arabia and was reported in Mecca, described as one of Islam's holiest sites, tying together the three Muslim-majority countries.^[4][6][7]

Sources in Ankara told Middle East Eye the agreement would be signed later on Friday, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveling to Saudi Arabia to be hosted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arriving in Jeddah on Thursday.^[2][4]

Year of talks concluded as Gulf came under fire

The deal had been under negotiation since last year, according to the Ankara sources, building on an existing mutual defence arrangement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.^[2][4]

It arrived as regional sources pointed to turmoil after Israeli-U.S. and U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, with Gulf states coming under fire from Iran. One account said Iran and its allies have been firing on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil exporters and blockading energy shipments since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, amid a revived conflict with Houthis in Yemen.^[2][3][4]

Turkey enters the framework as a U.S. and NATO ally that straddles Asia and Europe and fields NATO's second-largest army, while Saudi Arabia is described as the Arab world's only G-20 economy and home to Mecca and Medina, and Pakistan as the Muslim world's only nuclear-armed state, with Ankara and Islamabad emerging as weapons manufacturers.^[2][4]

Defensive framing and unsettled mutual-defence language

Whether the agreement includes a mutual defence clause remained unresolved in Friday's reporting. The sources declined to say whether an attack on one country would be considered an attack on all three, while a second source said such a clause was likely but cautioned that its final terms had yet to be confirmed.^[2]

A Turkish spokesperson said the deal was purely defensive in nature and not directed against any actor in particular.^[6]

One Ankara-based source said the agreement will cover all aspects of defence cooperation, will not alter or undermine any other alliance commitments the three countries may have, and was described as a first of its kind that would change the regional balance if implemented. Saudi analysts had previously said Riyadh could activate its existing defence pact with Pakistan should it enter the Iran war, a point raised again as Friday's pact was discussed.^[2][4]