Turkiye says Mecca defence pact not aimed at Iran

The pact includes an Article 5-style mutual-defence clause, but questions remain over how it would operate in practice and how Tehran will respond.Turkish leaders have insisted that the new trilateral defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is not directed at Iran.Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday that the pact does not identify Iran, or any other country, as a common threat.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkiye defence pact challenges US rolelist 2 of 4Iran deliberates Hormuz arrangement amid uncertain prospects with USlist 3 of 4Yemen’s government forces attack Houthis amid renewed shelling of Mariblist 4 of 4What are the challenges facing the Mecca agreement?end of listThe Mecca-joint-defence-agreement" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="180845" data-entity-type="event">Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed on Friday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, stating that an armed attack on one of the three countries would be considered an attack on them all.“There is no common threat that we have put in writing,” Fidan told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu agency, adding that countries that do not attack the signatories would not be considered targets.An Article 5-style commitmentFidan described the pact as “technically” similar to NATO’s Article 5 collective-defence clause, under which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all.But the response would depend on the circumstances.A country under attack would have to request assistance and specify what kind of support it needed, Fidan said. That could range from intelligence and logistics to ammunition or the deployment of military units.The alliance will also establish political and military committees, bringing together foreign and defence ministers and military chiefs, as well as a secretariat in Saudi Arabia.Fidan said the three countries would work on joint training, intelligence sharing, logistics, threat assessments and military interoperability.Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan [File: Turkish Foreign Ministry/Anadolu]Defence-industry cooperation is also expected to be a notable part of the pact. Fidan said it was one of the main issues discussed by the three leaders in Mecca, including how the countries could benefit from each other’s military technologies.