Military & Defense
Turkish defence ministry discusses measures to deploy forces to Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Alliance
At its weekly briefing on October 8, Turkey’s defence ministry said the “necessary measures” for providing and deploying forces to Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Defence Alliance were discussed, a day after Fidan said Turkey would not send troops to carry out attacks.
Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence (MSB) said at its weekly briefing on Thursday, October 8, that “the necessary measures for the provision and deployment in Saudi Arabia” of the military forces and capabilities agreed under the Mecca Defence Alliance were discussed, as reported by Hürriyet. The three countries had held an emergency meeting on September 25.
According to the announcement, the Alliance’s Strategic Political and Defence Committee met in Riyadh on October 5. It examined regional developments and collective defence measures, set the initial structure of the secretariat and discussed a framework for cooperation in the defence industry, with “significant progress” towards institutionalisation. The process for the forces Turkey may make available will follow “the Constitution and the relevant legislation”, that is, with the approval of the Turkish parliament.
From a “defensive” character to deployment
The announcement came a day after Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Turkey will not send troops to carry out attacks and that the agreement is defensive. The Mecca Agreement, between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, provides that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. The Turkish ministry did not specify which forces would be sent, or when.
Denizhan-76 for the 11th MILGEM
At the same briefing, held at the Gölcük Naval Shipyard for its 100th anniversary, spokesman Rear Admiral Zeki Aktürk said that MKE had delivered the ninth Denizhan-76 naval gun, to be fitted on the 11th ship of the MILGEM programme, along with MPT-76 rifles, 120 mm mortar rounds and 2.75-inch rocket motors for the Turkish Land Forces.
What the reference to the Constitution means
Under the Turkish Constitution, sending Turkish armed forces abroad requires the authorisation of the Grand National Assembly. The ministry’s reference to the “relevant provisions” indicates that the government will have to bring a request to parliament before any deployment. At the previous briefing, the ministry had described the Agreement as a framework for strengthening joint defence capability and deterrence, with actions decided jointly.
At that earlier briefing, as Hürriyet had reported, the Turkish ministry had asked Greece to refrain from arming the Aegean islands, had called Cyprus’s air defence system a security issue for Turkish Cypriots, and had said that any cable laying on the “Turkish continental shelf”, a reference to the Greece-Cyprus-Israel cable, must be coordinated with Ankara. The new briefing made no mention of Greece.
