"Mecca Pact"... Türkiye's Foreign Minister clarifies Ankara's position on sending forces to Saudi Arabia to launch attacks

- Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday that the “Mecca Pact” agreement is a “defensive, not offensive” agreement, indicating that his country “will not send forces to the territory of another country to launch an attack from there,” according to what was reported by the Turkish “Anatolia” news agency. The Turkish Foreign Minister added, in a joint press conference with the Deputy Prime Minister and Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban in the Turkish capital, Ankara: “When a state party to the Mecca Pact agreement is attacked, it stands by its side to defend it, as it is not an attack agreement.”

Fidan explained that "his country will not send forces to the territory of another country to launch an attack from there," according to the Anadolu Agency. The Turkish Foreign Minister added that the necessary work to refer the “Mecca Pact” agreement to Parliament has been completed.

The “Mecca Pact” agreement, which was published by the official Saudi Press Agency last August, stipulates that “the agreement aims to strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression,” and it also stipulates that “any armed attack on any of the three countries is an attack on all of them, and the agreement is also concerned with developing all aspects of defense cooperation between them.” The Political and Defense Strategic Committee of the “Mecca Defense Alliance,” which brings together Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey, announced “the immediate transition to the practical implementation of joint defense obligations,” in addition to “taking the necessary measures to provide the agreed-upon military forces and capabilities and quickly deploy them” in Saudi Arabia.

This came after an emergency meeting held by the committee in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to discuss “security developments and threats facing the Kingdom,” as it came in light of the recent escalation in Yemen between government forces supported by Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group supported by Iran. On the other hand, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen, commented on the Mecca defense alliance between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, describing it as an attempt by Riyadh to “implicit” Ankara and Islamabad, according to him.