Türkiye Advances Ratification of Makkah Defense Pact With Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
A Turkish parliamentary committee has cleared the way for Ankara to ratify a three-nation defense agreement binding Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, pushing one of the year’s most closely watched security arrangements toward full implementation.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of Türkiye’s Grand National Assembly approved a bill on Tuesday to ratify the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, sending the measure forward for consideration by the full parliament. The pact was signed in the Saudi city of Makkah on August 7 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have already completed their own domestic ratification procedures and filed formal notifications, leaving Türkiye as the final signatory still to approve the accord. Deputy Foreign Minister Levent Gumrukcu answered lawmakers’ questions during the committee’s deliberations before the bill advanced.
The agreement commits the three governments to strengthen joint deterrence and to hold regular consultations on international security matters. It envisions deeper military interoperability through personnel exchanges, joint training and combined exercises, and it provides for cooperation in the defense industry, including joint production and the sharing of technology. The three countries also pledged to expand counterterrorism efforts and to extend logistical support to one another.
Turkish officials sought to frame the pact as defensive and non-exclusive. Gumrukcu told the committee the arrangement is purely defensive and is not directed at any country, describing it as “not only an extension of the special friendly relations between the three countries” and saying it “envisions integration rather than bloc-building in the region.” He added that the accord remains open to other regional states that respect sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference, and that refrain from the use of force except in self-defense.
Officials also pushed back on suggestions that the arrangement could complicate Türkiye’s obligations as a NATO member. Gumrukcu said the agreement would neither replace nor weaken Ankara’s existing alliances and would instead complement its role within the Western bloc. Committee chairman Fuat Oktay flatly rejected the idea that the pact amounted to an alternative to NATO, answering “Absolutely not,” and stressed that the agreement “will not undermine the territorial integrity or sovereignty of the three countries.”
The accord deepens ties among three states that already maintain extensive economic, military and religious links. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan share a long history of defense cooperation, while Türkiye has steadily expanded its arms exports and defense-industrial partnerships across the Middle East and South Asia in recent years. Observers have followed the trilateral arrangement closely for signals of how Ankara, Riyadh and Islamabad intend to coordinate on regional security at a time of heightened tension across the Middle East.
Once Türkiye’s full parliament takes up the bill, approval would complete ratification in all three capitals and bring the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement formally into force.
Source: The Express Tribune