On the 7th, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed signed the "Mecca Joint Defense Agreement" in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, with visiting Turkish President Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz.
According to a joint statement issued by the three parties on the same day, the agreement aims to strengthen joint deterrence against any acts of aggression. The agreement stipulates that an armed attack on any one of the three countries will be regarded as an attack on all of them. The agreement will also promote the three countries to strengthen defense cooperation in various fields.
Local media reported that this new agreement builds on the Joint Strategic Defense Agreement signed by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in September 2025. The latter is of a military alliance nature and stipulates that any third-party attack on either Saudi Arabia or Pakistan will be considered “an act of aggression against both.” After signing the Joint Strategic Defense Agreement, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sought to bring Turkey into the collective security framework.
An Attack on a Member State Will Be Regarded as an Attack on All
The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the joint defense agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey stipulates that an attack on any one member state will be regarded as an attack on all member states.
No Conflict with NATO Provisions
On the 7th, the Turkish Communications Directorate issued a statement pointing out that the "Mecca Joint Defense Agreement" signed by Turkey with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan does not conflict with NATO’s Article 5, which is the collective defense clause.
Some public opinion holds that Turkey’s signing of this agreement “violates Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, namely the collective defense clause, and establishes a parallel alliance structure.”
The Turkish Communications Directorate stated that the above statement is completely unfounded and is obviously media manipulation.
The statement pointed out that this agreement does not conflict with Turkey’s existing international alliance commitments, including NATO. On the contrary, it constitutes a complementary cooperation mechanism that helps to maintain regional security. Developing regional partnerships is not an alternative to Turkey’s NATO membership.