ANKARA (The Thursday Times) — Türkiye plans to ask its parliament for a mandate allowing military personnel to be deployed to Saudi Arabia under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement it signed with Riyadh and Islamabad in August, a lawmaker from the ruling AK Party told Reuters on Wednesday.
The lawmaker, who was not named, said the mandate would be sent to parliament only after it approves a bill ratifying the agreement. The government submitted that ratification bill to parliament on Tuesday, according to the Reuters report. The report did not say how many personnel could be sent, what role they would play or when any deployment might take place.
There was no official statement on the plan from Ankara, Riyadh or Islamabad at the time of writing.
What the pact says
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the agreement at Al-Safa Palace in Makkah on August 7. Under its terms, according to the three countries’ joint statement, “any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all.”
The pact’s Strategic Political and Defence Committee held its first meeting in Istanbul on August 31, attended for Pakistan by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. The three countries agreed there to set up a secretariat in Saudi Arabia, headed by a secretary general. Dar has called the agreement “purely defensive in nature” and said other countries could join if they uphold its principles.
Türkiye’s parliamentary speaker, Numan Kurtulmuş, said before the new legislative session that the agreement needed parliament’s approval to take effect, describing the meetings held under it until then as preparatory.
A kingdom under attack
Reuters said the step would bring NATO’s second-largest army closer to a formal mutual defence pledge with Riyadh as Saudi Arabia faces Houthi attacks. Strikes on Riyadh’s airport have already led airlines to extend flight suspensions into 2027.
Pakistan, which signed a separate Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh in September 2025, has said it will do whatever it takes to defend the kingdom. Türkiye and Pakistan were also among the four countries that on Wednesday signed the Badr defence memorandum in Doha, alongside Qatar and Indonesia.∎
