Pakistan Ratifies Mecca Joint Defence Agreement With Turkiye and Saudi Arabia

Pakistan has completed ratification of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement with Turkiye and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has also completed its ratification, while Turkiye is still finishing its domestic approval process. Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan announced the news at the ministry’s weekly media briefing on Friday.

The agreement was signed on 7 August in Mecca by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It provides a framework for collective assistance if any of the three countries faces external armed aggression. An armed attack against one member will be treated as an attack against all three, with the nature and extent of assistance decided together according to the circumstances.

Khan said each country follows its own constitutional and legal procedures to approve international agreements. Turkiye submitted the agreement to its parliament for ratification earlier this week, and its parliament is set to review the deal next week.

The pact is moving towards implementation. On 5 October, the alliance’s Strategic, Political and Defence Committee met in Riyadh and called for the immediate implementation of collective defence commitments and the rapid deployment in Saudi Arabia of military forces and capabilities already agreed upon, subject to each country’s national legislation.

Islamabad says the agreement is defensive in nature, consistent with the UN Charter, and aimed at promoting regional peace, security and stability. The announcement comes amid escalating tensions over attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, known as the Houthis.

Saudi Arabia has also been at the centre of regional defence moves this week, as covered in UK Deploys Typhoon Jets to Saudi Arabia as US Pulls Bombers From RAF Fairford Over Iran Drone Plot.

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