Mecca: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye have signed a landmark trilateral defence agreement, deepening security cooperation amid heightened military tensions across the Middle East.
The agreement, named the ‘Mecca Joint Defence Agreement’, was signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. A joint statement shared by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Saudi state media confirmed that an armed attack on any one of the three countries would be regarded as an attack against all three.
The statement says the pact reflects the three states’ shared commitment to strengthening collective security and promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the region and beyond.
The signing came a day after Prime Minister Sharif, accompanied by army chief Asim Munir, arrived in Saudi Arabia and performed the Umrah pilgrimage. President Erdogan also travelled to the kingdom on Friday to meet the Crown Prince, whose country has faced repeated strikes from Iran, Houthi forces in Yemen and Shia armed groups in Iraq, following US and Israeli military action against Iran on February 28. These conflicts have threatened Saudi Arabia’s oil exports and its ambitious development plans, raising serious questions about the reliability of its longstanding US security umbrella.
The deal follows nearly a year of negotiations. Sealing it in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, adds considerable symbolic weight to the pact, which builds on decades of existing bilateral military ties. Pakistan has provided training and technical assistance to Saudi forces for years, while Turkiye and Pakistan have exchanged warships and training aircraft. In 2023, Riyadh agreed to purchase Turkish drones in what Ankara described as its largest defence export contract.
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Doha, described the pact as bringing together three of the largest Muslim populations, marking the start of a different security architecture in the region. He noted that Pakistan contributes its nuclear arsenal and battle-hardened military, Turkiye brings advanced drone and munitions systems as a NATO member, and Saudi Arabia provides significant economic weight.
Analysts describe the alliance as merging deterrence with diplomacy. Abdulaziz Alghashian of the Gulf International Forum said the pact, while not directed at any specific actor, aims to move the region toward greater stability. Retired Pakistani Major General Zahid Mahmood echoed that view, saying the intent was collective security to address shared regional challenges.
