The defence pact signed by Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is technically the same as NATO’s Article 5 mutual defence provision, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said, adding that the accord does not target Iran (Geo News).
Speaking to the state-run Anadolu agency, Fidan said the alliance was not directed against Iran or any other country but served as a general pledge to support the three allies’ security. He said the allies would decide through consultations what degree, form and format of support to request in the event of an attack, and that no country would be treated as a threat as long as no member state is attacked.
That is the significant qualification. Article 5 obliges members to assist an attacked ally, but leaves each to determine what action it deems necessary — and Fidan’s description places the Makkah agreement in the same category: automatic in principle, discretionary in execution.
He was direct about the limits of the comparison. “NATO is a giant military alliance where there are 32 countries. We have started here as three countries and we have to take very humble but concrete steps,” he said, adding that efforts to finalise the pact had been under way for two years and eight months — considerably longer than the “close to a year” cited in earlier reporting, and well before the current war.
Institutional machinery is planned. Fidan said a committee of ministers similar to NATO’s would be formed, along with a general secretariat based in Saudi Arabia, with operational details to be settled at the first committee meeting.
He also signalled the alliance is meant to grow. “Our president’s vision is that we don’t remain limited to three countries, that we grow and bring together all regional countries under this roof,” he said, naming Egypt as a potential member once certain technical matters are resolved. “I believe that at the next stage Egypt will also be among us in the alliance. We already act toward one another as if we were alliance members,” he said, calling Egypt a “natural partner on all issues” (Geo News).
Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt have in recent months formed a grouping — dubbed the R4 — to address regional issues, principally the war on Iran. A drone struck US assets at an Egyptian Mediterranean port last month, the first such attack on Egyptian territory since the war began.
Asked what the alliance is for, Fidan gave an answer that cuts against the Article 5 framing in one respect. “There is no common threat that we have put in writing,” he said.
Turkiye, which has NATO’s second-largest army, has said the pact is open to expansion and does not seek to replace existing alliances. Fidan added that Turkiye should join an international coalition to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks, since shipping safety concerns Ankara’s interests.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on Friday. In a joint statement they said it was intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three would be regarded as an attack on all. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the agreement “targets no country”, is open to all “brotherly countries”, and reaffirms the right of defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
The full text has still not been published.
