Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan to sign defense pact on Friday, sources say

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will sign a joint defence agreement later on Friday, sources in Ankara told Middle East Eye.

The deal, which has been under negotiation since last year, marks a significant new trilateral framework amid a deepening regional crisis following Israeli-US attacks on Iran. 

The deal is expected to be signed in Mecca, one of Islam’s holiest sites, by the leaders of the three Muslim-majority countries.

“The agreement will change the balance of power in the region,” one Ankara-based source said. “If successfully implemented, the deal will enhance the stability and security of people living in this part of the world.”

The sources said the agreement would cover all aspects of defence cooperation among the three countries.

“It will not alter or undermine any other alliance commitments the three countries may have,” the same source added.

The sources declined to say whether the agreement includes a mutual defence clause under which an attack on one country would be considered an attack on all three.

A second source said the deal was likely to include such a clause but cautioned that its final terms had yet to be confirmed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Saudi Arabia early on Friday, where he will be hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Jeddah on Thursday.

If Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia sign a trilateral defence pact, it would link three of the region’s largest countries, each with unique advantages.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is the Arab world’s only G-20 economy and home to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities in Islam.

Pakistan is the Muslim-world’s only nuclear-armed state.

Turkey, which straddles Asia and Europe, boosts Nato’s second-largest army.

Both Islamabad and Ankara are emerging as major weapons manufacturers and exporters.

Pakistan is historically close to both Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Both the latter countries have not always seen eye-to-eye.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan backed popular protests following the Arab Spring that Riyadh saw as a threat to its monarchical system of governance.

A decade ago, Saudi Arabia and the UAE joined forces to battle Turkey in Libya. They also supported Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a former general whom Erdogan once denounced.

But the region’s alliances have whipsawed. Erdogan and Sisi are moving closer amid joint concerns over Israel’s war on Gaza - recognised as a genocide by the United Nations, human rights groups and historians - and broader attacks on Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey began patching up ties around 2021.