Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani chiefs meet in Riyadh as Erdoğan clarifies Makkah pact

The military chiefs of Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan met in Riyadh on September 25 to discuss how to put their Makkah Joint Defence Agreement into practice amid attacks on Saudi targets. Their talks came as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the pact does not require an automatic military intervention after every incident.

The participants were Saudi Chief of the General Staff General Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, Turkish Chief of the General Staff General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu and Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. Pakistan’s military said the three reviewed threats to Saudi Arabia, condemned attacks on Makkah and civilian and economic facilities, and discussed intelligence sharing and closer military coordination.

The meeting addressed the operational meaning of the agreement signed in Makkah on August 7. Its collective defence provision treats an armed attack on one signatory as an attack on all three. Saudi Arabia has faced missile and drone attacks in the conflict around Yemen. The chiefs pledged to turn the pact’s commitments into effective military cooperation and reaffirmed support for Saudi security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In responses to Newsweek questions published by the Turkish presidency on September 25, Erdoğan emphasised that the form of assistance depends on the attacked country’s request and needs. He listed intelligence, logistics and ammunition as possible forms of support, while saying more extensive military assistance could be considered according to the scale of a threat. Political and military mechanisms would decide the response through consultation and coordination.

“It would not be right at this stage to envisage an automatic military response scenario for every incident that may occur in Iraq, Yemen or elsewhere,” Erdoğan said. He also said the agreement should not be seen as an alliance established against Iran, Israel or another third country. Those qualifications distinguish a collective-defence commitment from a predetermined decision to send Turkish forces into every new confrontation.

The distinction matters as the three governments try to turn their political pledge into working military procedures. The Riyadh discussions covered intelligence and the integration of defence capabilities, according to Pakistan’s military. Munir separately met Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, who said they discussed attacks against Makkah as well as civilian and economic sites in the kingdom.