What happened: “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement” and minister-led joint planning

Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan announced plans for deeper defence cooperation after signing a regional military pact called the “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement.”

A defence ministry statement linked the cooperation to senior minister grouping for coordinated defence activity and joint exercises, along with expanded cooperation across the defence industry.

Core terms: collective retaliation and multi-domain exercises

The “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement” states that an attack on any member would be treated as an attack on all, and it is described as modelled on NATO’s collective defence concept (the idea of a collective response to an armed attack).

The pact includes joint exercises across land, naval, and air domains. It also includes work related to air defence and unmanned systems (unmanned aerial or similar platforms).