Turkey to submit Mecca defense pact to parliament within days

Turkey is set to submit the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, a trilateral defense pact with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, to its parliament for ratification in the coming days, according to President Tayyip Erdogan. The announcement comes in the wake of escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran-backed Houthis.

Omer Celik, spokesman for Turkey's ruling AK Party, confirmed that preparatory work on the agreement is nearing completion and it will be sent to the Grand National Assembly soon. This ratification process is a prerequisite for deploying Turkish forces abroad and is seen as paving the way for a potential Turkish troop deployment to Saudi Arabia.

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed on August 7, 2026, by Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, establishes a mutual-defense framework. It stipulates that an armed attack against any one of the three signatory nations will be considered an attack against all.

The push for ratification follows an emergency meeting of the alliance's Strategic Political and Defense Committee in Riyadh on Monday, convened in response to recent Houthi attacks targeting various locations in Saudi Arabia, including airports.