September 1, 2026
Pakistan will provide the first secretary general of the newly named Makkah Defence Alliance for a three-year term, with the pact's permanent secretariat to be established in Riyadh, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced after the grouping's inaugural committee meeting in Istanbul.
August 31, 2026
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye hold the first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in Istanbul on Monday, with Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Asif and Field Marshal Asim Munir representing Pakistan.
August 19, 2026
The Turkish foreign minister has invited Ishaq Dar to a meeting of the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt in Istanbul later this month. Dar has accepted.
August 12, 2026
The Turkish president says the pact's vision is not limited to three countries and he hopes the whole region will eventually gather under it. Cairo has not commented on the agreement or on Ankara's expectation that it will join.
August 9, 2026
Hakan Fidan says the trilateral defence agreement is technically the same as NATO's Article 5, that it does not target Iran, and that Egypt is a candidate to join. A ministerial committee and a general secretariat based in Saudi Arabia are to be established.
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