Türkiye has completed preparations to submit the Mecca defence agreement to parliament for approval, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said, stressing that the pact is defensive and does not authorise attacks on other countries.
“The necessary work for the agreement to be submitted to parliament has been completed,” Fidan said at a joint news conference on Thursday in Ankara with Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Anita Orban.
‘Pact provides mutual defence’
Fidan said the agreement requires signatories to support one another if one of the participating countries comes under attack.
“Once a country that is a party to the agreement is attacked, you stand by it for its defence. This is not an attack agreement,” he said.
He also clarified that the pact does not give Türkiye authority to deploy troops into another signatory’s territory to conduct an offensive operation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in Mecca on August 7.
The agreement reflects Türkiye, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia's commitments to developing regional solutions to regional problems and their shared strategic vision focused on regional security and stability.
It aims to strengthen the three countries' security through collective deterrence and defence.
The three countries established a Strategic Political and Defence Committee, made up of their foreign and defence ministers and chiefs of General Staff, to guide activities under the agreement.
The committee held its first meeting in Istanbul on August 31, hosted by Türkiye.
Fidan warns against wider Black Sea conflict
Turning to the Russia-Ukraine war, Fidan warned against allowing the conflict to spread into the Black Sea.
“We must never allow the Black Sea to turn into a new front of conflict,” he said.
