Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye hold first meeting under Makkah defence pact in Istanbul

Leaders of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Monday attended the first meeting held under their Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in Istanbul. Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif represented Pakistan at the meeting. Foreign and defence ministers of the three countries, as well as top military officials, gathered for a family photo ahead of the meeting in Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace. According to Anadolu Agency, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu represented Turkiye at the meeting. Representing Saudi Arabia, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Chief of General Staff General Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili attended the meeting. Anadolu Agency also shared a video showing the participants seated in a hall, with Fidan seated in the middle. The clip showed Fidan greeting Dar, CDF Munir and others at the venue. In a statement issued on Sunday, the Foreign Office (FO) said the meeting will comprise the Strategic Political and Defence Committee established under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement. “Pakistan’s participation in the meeting signifies Pakistan’s historic bonds of friendship with the brotherly countries of Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, as well as its desire for lasting regional peace and stability,” the FO said. The maiden ministerial meeting under the Makkah pact is being seen as the first step towards establishing a framework for trilateral strategic and defence cooperation. According to an AFP report, the participants plan to address boosting defence capabilities, the interoperability of their armed forces, and their cooperation in the defence industry. Meanwhile, TRT reported that the meeting is expected to outline the framework for a secretariat and other relevant mechanisms, as well as establish a roadmap for steps to be taken in the coming period. The joint defence pact signed on August 7 empowers the member states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all of them. Bilateral meetings Ahead of the trilateral pact’s inaugural moot, the signatories held multiple bilateral meetings in Istanbul. CDF Munir met Turkish National Defence Minister Yaşar Güler ahead of the first meeting under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in Istanbul. In a post on the social media platform X, the Turkish Ministry of National Defence shared a video of CDF Munir meeting Güler. The Turkish minister also held a separate meeting with Asif, with Chief of General Staff General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu in attendance. According to Radio Pakistan, Asif and the Turkish leadership agreed to enhance joint defence cooperation in the region. Meanwhile, Turkiye’s foreign minister met his Saudi counterpart on the margins of the trilateral moot. Fidan had already held a meeting with Dar on Sunday. Both the deputy premier and the army chief, had arrived in Turkiye a day earlier.