Fidan: Mecca Defense Alliance takes first institutional decisions

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced on Monday that the Mecca Defense Alliance has formally adopted its first institutional decisions during the inaugural Strategic Political and Defense Committee meeting in Istanbul, convening senior defense and diplomatic officials from Ankara, Islamabad and Riyadh.

Trilateral participation

The gathering brought together the foreign and defense ministers alongside the chiefs of general staff from Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, marking the first concrete step under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. Fidan commented on the proceedings via NSosyal, the Turkish social media platform, noting that the trilateral format had yielded substantive outcomes for regional security cooperation.

'Auspicious for our region'

In a post on NSosyal, Fidan stated: "Today, together with our Pakistani and Saudi brothers, we formally took the first institutional decisions of the Mecca Defense Alliance at the Strategic Political and Defense Committee meeting we held in Istanbul." He added that the deliberations marked a significant milestone in trilateral defense cooperation.

"We thank all the officials who contributed. May it once again be auspicious for our region," Fidan said, thanking the delegations from Islamabad and Riyadh for their participation in the high-level consultations. The Istanbul talks represent the first ministerial-level convening of the committee established under the tripartite defense framework.