Egypt could join the joint defence agreement signed by Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview scheduled to air on Sunday evening. He described Cairo’s accession as “possible” and said the pact is open to additional members.
The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement says an armed attack on any of its three current signatories would be treated as an attack on all of them. Erdogan said the arrangement commits the members to taking unified steps against an external attack.
What the agreement provides
The agreement, also known as the Mecca Pact, was signed in the holy city last Friday by Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Erdogan said the pact had sent an important message to the world and identified Egypt’s participation as one option for future expansion.
The collective-deterrence provision has been compared by analysts with NATO’s Article 5. Officials in Islamabad, however, have cautioned against treating the agreement as a NATO equivalent or assuming that it is aimed at any particular country.
Erdogan’s regional commitments
Erdogan said Turkiye would continue supporting stability in Syria and that he planned to visit the country. He added that Syria’s Kurds should have “a share of peace and stability”, while saying Turkiye would strengthen ties with Kurdish communities and safeguard their rights across the region.
He also said Turkiye could not leave Gaza alone, pledged continued support for Sudan and said Ankara would not abandon Libya. He described Israeli attacks in Lebanon as a serious concern and said he had raised the need to end the war there with the United States president during Donald Trump’s recent visit to Turkiye.
Erdogan said reopening the Strait of Hormuz was a priority for Ankara because its continued closure served no one’s interests. He credited Qatar with an important role in mediation efforts to halt fighting in the region.
Other issues raised in the interview
Erdogan said Turkiye’s membership of the European Union was no longer a priority because the bloc did not appear willing to admit the country. He argued that Europe would be the loser as a result.
He also said he had received a promise from Trump concerning F-35 fighter jets and was waiting for it to be honoured. Turkiye was removed from the multinational F-35 programme in 2019 after acquiring Russia’s S-400 air-defence system. A 2020 United States law bars the Pentagon from transferring F-35s to Turkiye while it retains the S-400 system, and any return to the programme still faces resistance in Congress.
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