The newly signed Makkah Joint Defence Agreement does not target Iran, is defensive and aimed at protecting signatories from external attacks, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says.
In an interview with Türkiye’s Anadolu Agency over the weekend, Fidan said: “There is no common threat that we have put in writing.”
He added that the deal did not target any country that did not attack its signatories.
“Iran is not in the crosshairs of this agreement,” he said.
A day after Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan signed the trilateral defence agreement, Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, warned that any “miscalculation” against Iran would be met with a response.
Fidan noted that preparations for the deal had been under way for nearly two years and eight months, involving signatories and other regional countries.
Several countries had shown interest in joining the deal, voicing confidence that Egypt, said Fidan, which he called a “natural partner”, would “be among us in the next stage”.
He said the deal was “technically similar to Nato’s Article 5 on collective defence, allowing members to benefit from each other’s protective support”.
A country under attack would need to make a request for assistance and determine the type of support needed, ranging from intelligence and logistics to ammunition or military units, depending on the scale of the threat, he said.
The alliance would have a political and military committee comprising foreign and defence ministers and chiefs of general staff, with a secretariat in Saudi Arabia overseeing implementation, he said.
The deal, signed on Friday by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan in the Saudi city of Makkah, stipulates that any armed attack against one of the three countries will be considered an attack against them all.
The timing of the signing has been widely seen as inseparable from the heightened geopolitical tension in the Middle East.
- The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement is defensive and does not target Iran, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
- The agreement was signed by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Pakistan, and states that an armed attack against one signatory is considered an attack against all.
- Preparations for the agreement took nearly two years and eight months, and other regional countries, including Egypt, have shown interest in joining.
- The deal is similar to NATO's Article 5 on collective defence, involving mutual support upon request ranging from intelligence to military units.
- The alliance will have political and military committees with a secretariat in Saudi Arabia overseeing its implementation.
