Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye name defence pact Mecca Defence Alliance
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Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye formally named their mutual-defence pact the Mecca Defence Alliance on Monday in Istanbul. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced a secretariat in Riyadh and said the first secretary general will be from Pakistan. The alliance remains open to other countries, even as Washington and Tehran traded strikes hours earlier.
Key Facts
- The Mecca Defence Alliance secretariat is established in Riyadh, with the first secretary general to be appointed from Pakistan.
- Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the alliance is based on respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affairs.
- The Strategic Political and Defence Committee, created under the August 7 Mecca agreement, has begun work on operationalising the mutual-defence clause.
- The announcement came hours after Washington and Tehran traded strikes for the first time in a month, breaking a lull in the six-month war.
Alliance Structure
The Mecca Defence Alliance secretariat is established in Riyadh, with the first secretary general to be appointed from Pakistan. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced the secretariat at a press conference in Istanbul after talks between senior officials from the three countries. Fidan said the alliance is based on international principles such as respecting the sovereignty of other states, territorial integrity and not intervening in internal affairs. The alliance remains open for the partnership and participation of any other country in the region, Fidan added.
Delegations and Committee Work
Pakistan's delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif. Turkiye was represented by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler and General Staff Chief Selcuk Bayraktaroglu. Saudi Arabia's delegation included Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman and General Staff Chief Fayyad al-Ruwaili. The Strategic Political and Defence Committee, created under the joint defence agreement signed in Mecca on August 7, has started work on turning the political declaration into an operational framework. The mutual-defence clause states that an attack on any one of the three states will be treated as an attack on all three.
Regional Context
The meeting came just hours after Washington and Tehran traded strikes for the first time in a month, breaking a lull in a war that has now run for more than six months. The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28. Pakistani officials had suggested in recent weeks that Egypt might also join Monday's proceedings, not to discuss the defence pact itself, but as part of a foursome that has played a key mediating role in trying to end the US war on Iran. The group of four last met in Amman on August 5 and, before that, in Cairo in June, where it welcomed the signing of the Pakistan-brokered Islamabad memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran.
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Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye name defence pact Mecca Defence Alliance