Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on August 7 in the presence of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Under the agreement, an armed attack against any one of the three countries will be regarded as an attack against all three.
At a weekly briefing in Ankara, the Turkish Defence Ministry said the agreement aims to place defence and military cooperation among the three countries on a “more institutional and sustainable” footing.
The ministry said strategic political and military mechanisms would be established involving defence and foreign ministers, as well as chiefs of general staff and armed forces commanders. Coordination among the three countries would be conducted at the highest level.
The agreement also envisages joint military exercises involving land, naval and air forces, alongside cooperation in air defence and unmanned systems.
The ministry said defence industry cooperation would go beyond the supply of products and systems to include joint development and production, technology transfer, and long-term maintenance and logistical support.
Unmanned and autonomous systems, electronic warfare and artificial intelligence capabilities would be among the priority areas of cooperation.
Turkiye, which has NATO's second-largest army, has said the agreement is open to expansion and does not seek to replace existing alliances. Egypt has been identified as a potential future member.
A day earlier, President Erdogan told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that his vision for the pact was not limited to the three founding countries and that he hoped other countries in the region would eventually join.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had also said that Egypt could join the agreement at a later stage, with only a few technical issues reportedly remaining.
Egypt has not yet publicly commented on the proposed expansion of the defence pact.
The Turkish Defence Ministry also said Ankara was participating in meetings in Jeddah aimed at establishing an international coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea.
