REUTERS/Susana Vera

Turkey Approves Defence Pact With Saudi Arabia and Pakistan

by · Greek City Times

Turkey’s parliament has approved a defence agreement with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, endorsing a collective-security pact that provides for assistance if one of the three countries comes under attack.

File photo: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the NATO summit in Madrid, 30 June 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Susana Vera.

Lawmakers backed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement by 279 votes to 119 on Thursday, 5 November, according to Anadolu Agency. The Turkish parliament’s official account also confirmed that the bill approving ratification had passed.

The agreement was signed in Mecca on 7 August by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Read more: Greek Patriot Battery Intercepts Ballistic Missile and UAV in Saudi Arabia

What the Mecca agreement covers

The 16-article pact provides for mutual assistance in the event of an armed attack or military aggression against a member, alongside closer military coordination, intelligence sharing, joint training and defence-industry cooperation, Al Jazeera reported, drawing on AFP and Reuters.

Parliamentary approval should not be confused with an automatic deployment of Turkish forces. Al Jazeera reported that sending troops would require additional legislative processes. Nor does the vote alone establish that all procedures needed to bring the agreement into force have been completed.

Lawmakers raise oversight concerns

During the parliamentary debate, ruling AK Party lawmaker Ziya Altunyaldiz said the agreement was intended to prevent conflicts rather than escalate them and was not aimed at a third country, according to the official parliamentary account.

CHP lawmaker Mehmet Guzelmansur called for clear rules to avoid conflicts with Turkey’s other international obligations and stressed the need for parliamentary scrutiny of decisions involving public resources.

The pact comes amid renewed attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Saudi Arabia. Al Jazeera reported that Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler had previously said Ankara did not foresee entering a conflict with the Houthis, describing potential support as a means of strengthening deterrence.

This agreement is separate from the defence-industry cooperation memorandum involving Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia signed in Doha in October. That initiative involves a different group of countries and should not be treated as the same pact.

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