Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a joint defence agreement on Friday, connecting the three largest Muslim countries in the world under one security umbrella for the first time. 

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

Saudi analysts have previously said that Riyadh could activate the defence pact it currently has with Pakistan should it enter the Iran war.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the deal in Mecca in a joint ceremony. 

The leaders, in a joint statement, said that the defence agreement reflects their shared determination to further strengthen their collective security, in the region and beyond.

“The Agreement aims to bolster collective deterrence against all forms of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack carried out against any one of the three states shall be considered an attack against all of them,” the joint statement said. “The Agreement also provides for the development of defense cooperation among the three states in all its dimensions.” 

The sources said the deal would cover all 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.

One Turkish official told Reuters that the agreement was defensive in nature, was not directed against any specific actor, and was open to other regional countries. 

Former rivals draw closer together

The pact would link three of the region’s largest countries, each with unique advantages.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is the Arab world’s only G20 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, boasts 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, but the latter two countries have not always seen eye-to-eye.

Turkey’s President 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 – and broader attacks on Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey began patching up ties around 2021.

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