Makkah Defence Pact: Pakistan, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia Move to Build Regional Security Framework

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia will form political and military mechanisms under a defense pact signed between the regional powers last week, Turkiye’s defense ministry said on Thursday,

Türkiye Defense Ministry also said that the three countries military alliance would also deepen defense industry cooperation.

The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement was signed last week as the Middle East grapples with fallout from the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has dragged in regional players and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

At a weekly briefing in Ankara, the ministry said the mechanisms would include the three countries’ defense ministers, foreign ministers, and military chiefs.

It added that the joint military exercises were also being planned under the pact, while cooperation could include joint production and technology sharing in the defence industry.

The remarks come a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he hoped more countries would join the agreement.

“Our vision for it is not limited to the three countries,” the Turkish leader told Arab media.

“Rather, we aspire for it to grow, and perhaps appropriate conditions will emerge one day for all countries of the region to gather under its umbrella.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday said Turkiye expected Egypt to join the pact “in the next stage”, telling the Anadolu state news agency only “a few technical issues” stood in the way.

Egypt has not commented on the agreement nor on the remarks by Fidan, who will visit Cairo on Thursday and Friday.

Pakistan, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia have steadily expanded defense and security cooperation in recent years, building on longstanding military ties and growing strategic coordination. The three countries have particularly sought greater cooperation in defense production, military training and joint exercises, amid a broader push by regional states to develop security arrangements less dependent on external powers.

The Makkah Joint Defense Agreement marks a significant step beyond conventional bilateral defense cooperation by creating a trilateral framework involving political and military leadership. Its proposed mechanisms—bringing together foreign and defense ministers as well as military chiefs—could provide an institutional structure for coordinating responses to shared security concerns, while planned exercises and defense-industry cooperation could gradually deepen operational interoperability.

The agreement comes against a rapidly changing regional security environment following the US-Israeli war on Iran and disruptions to maritime trade around the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea. Türkiye has indicated that the arrangement could eventually expand beyond the three signatories, with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan specifically pointing to Egypt as a potential next member. If other major regional states join, the pact could evolve from a trilateral defence arrangement into a broader regional security framework.