Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saturday that the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement is technically the same as Article 5 of the NATO Treaty concerning collective defense.
Speaking at Anadolu's Editor's Desk program, Fidan said the agreement signed by Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan aims to contribute to lasting stability in the region.
"There is no common threat that we have put in writing," Fidan said, adding that the agreement does not target any country that does not attack its signatories.
He stressed that Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are not expansionist countries.
"Under our president's vision, we should not remain limited to three countries. We should grow and, if necessary, bring all countries under this umbrella," the minister added.
"The Mecca Agreement is the most important step toward bringing lasting stability to this region," Fidan said, adding that the region has experienced instability over the past century since the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire.
Fidan described the signing of the agreement as a "historic day," saying it represented one of the milestones that Türkiye had been pursuing for years under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's leadership.
‘Regional ownership is important’
Fidan said increasing regional ownership of security issues is central to Türkiye's approach.
“External hegemons coming into the region do not solve the problems; they make them more acute, and the cost becomes very high,” he said.
He argued that regional countries should develop more institutional mechanisms through which they can ensure their own security, economic stability, development and prosperity.
Fidan said Türkiye has strong relations with almost all countries in the region, adding: “But these were relations that were largely shaped by the prevailing circumstances, political perceptions and understandings, and could change at any moment.
He said Ankara seeks to make its regional ties more lasting and structured to promote stability, stressing that lasting economic integration requires security and mutual trust.
Citing the EU as an example, Fidan said the European Economic Community takes shape in the environment provided by the American security umbrella.
He said Türkiye’s regional vision similarly seeks to reduce instability and eventually foster greater economic and social integration, improving the prosperity of regional populations.
Fidan acknowledged that the initiative remains at an early stage and will not be easy to establish, but said Türkiye has already completed the necessary conceptual and institutional preparations.
The minister said preparations for the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement had been underway for nearly two years and eight months, with talks involving signatories and other regional countries.
He said the process evolved from an initial idea into a concept and ultimately an agreement, while President Erdogan also repeatedly raised the issue with regional leaders.
NATO comparison
Pointing out that the agreement imposes obligations on the signatory countries, Fidan noted that Türkiye has been a member of NATO since 1952 and has participated in NATO meetings for many years.
Fidan said the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement is technically similar to NATO’s Article 5 on collective defense, allowing members to benefit from each other’s protective support.
He said NATO’s core deterrence is defensive, built around the message: “If you attack me, I have the military power of this large alliance.” He said this prevents conflict and enables countries to resolve political and economic problems.
NATO has only taken collective military action in a limited number of cases, including Afghanistan and Kosovo, he added.
He emphasized that the alliance's core purpose is to ensure that potential adversaries understand the consequences of attacking a member, thereby creating an environment in which countries can address their political and economic problems and pursue development without being disrupted by conflict.
Fidan stressed that violence, war and bloodshed are among the main factors preventing regional development.
“We are now in solidarity with each other,” Fidan said, explaining the principle behind the alliance.
“You increase your deterrence capability. Secondly, rather than sending a message to an outside party, countries signing such alliances demonstrate and commit that they will not pose a threat to each other’s security, but instead guarantee each other’s security,” he said.
Fidan said this was the starting point of a security alliance, adding that the members would subsequently need to work according to existing threats.
Asked whether an attack would immediately trigger an obligation under the agreement and how such an obligation would become operational, Fidan said the text contains general commitments whose practical implementation would depend on discussions and decisions by relevant bodies.
He said a country would need to make a request for assistance and would determine the type of support it needs.
Fidan added that a country could request different forms of support, ranging from intelligence and logistics to ammunition or, if necessary, military units, depending on the scale of the threat.
He said the alliance would have a political and military committee comprising foreign and defense ministers and chiefs of general staff, similar to NATO structures.
The committee would translate the vision set by the leaders into decisions within the alliance and carry out related work, while a secretariat would be established to implement those decisions, he added.
Defense industry cooperation among leaders' key topics
“The issue discussed most among the leaders yesterday was cooperation in the defense industry and countries benefiting from each other’s technologies,” Fidan said.
He added that the alliance would go beyond the signing of the agreement, with a secretariat overseeing defense-related issues and monitoring implementation of decisions.
“As the signatures have only just been put on the agreement, we have not started this work yet,” Fidan said, adding that after the first committee meeting, ministers would likely present proposals to the leaders on the establishment, structure and functioning of the secretariat, as well as its initial tasks.
He said the alliance would cover a broad range of military issues, including interoperability, or the ability of countries with different military structures to operate together.
Other areas would include joint training, mutual support, logistics, threat assessments, intelligence sharing and, most importantly, defense industry cooperation.
He described the alliance as a serious institutional undertaking requiring continuity, saying its work would eventually become routine.
“Countries will not find themselves in a situation where, when they are under pressure, they ask, ‘What were we going to do together?’” he said.
Fidan stressed the importance of institutionalizing foreign policy and security cooperation rather than leaving success to chance.
“We should not leave success in foreign policy or any other area to chance. We need to institutionalize it and make it continuous,” he said.
Fidan said countries should build alliances around shared interests, describing Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan as the “core countries” of the initiative.
On the Russia-Ukraine war, Fidan said that when the war of attrition extends beyond the front lines, the conflict becomes a matter of national survival.
"When the war of attrition turns into attrition beyond the front lines, the issue becomes whether a nation will continue to exist. You use whatever means you have at your disposal," he said.
On the island of Cyprus, Fidan said Türkiye does not recognize the Greek Cypriot Administration as a state and stressed that the rights of Turkish Cypriots must be respected.
"We do not recognize the Greek Cypriot side as a state. If you do not recognize the rights of Turkish Cypriots, then I do not recognize your statehood," Fidan said.
"You are not the state established in 1960," he added.
Fidan also said peace and stability on the island of Cyprus are due to the presence of Turkish soldiers on the island.
He also called for continuing the international political isolation of Israel, saying this is something Israel fears the most.
