Follow-Up: Turkish Parliament Ratifies the Mecca Joint Defence Pact 279 to 119: An Attack on One Signatory Counts as an Attack on All Three

Ankara — The Grand National Assembly of Türkiye voted on Thursday, November 5, by 279 votes to 119 to approve the bill ratifying the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, completing the legislative approval process on the Turkish side. A total of 398 lawmakers took part in the vote in the 600-seat assembly.

The 16-article agreement was signed in Mecca on August 7 this year by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Its second article provides that an external armed attack on any one signatory is considered an attack on all three. The pact also covers counterterrorism, intelligence sharing, joint exercises and defence-industry cooperation. Its secretariat is based in Saudi Arabia, and its first secretary-general is retired Pakistani General Nauman Mahmood, serving a three-year term. The agreement runs for ten years, after which a party may withdraw on three months' written notice.

The ratification bill has three articles: it approves the agreement, provides that the law takes effect once published in the Official Gazette, and assigns implementation to the president. The bill was sent to parliament on October 20 and cleared the Foreign Affairs Committee on October 27. Pakistan had already approved the agreement. Under Türkiye's constitution, deploying Turkish forces abroad still requires a separate parliamentary mandate; ratifying the pact does not by itself authorise any deployment.

The vote passed despite warnings from opposition parties. One opposition lawmaker asked during the debate whether Türkiye would have to go to war if India attacked Pakistan. Fuat Oktay, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and a member of the ruling party, responded that Türkiye would not be drawn into an uncontrolled process, and officials have said Turkish troops will not be sent to fight Yemen's Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia's continuing exposure to Houthi attacks is widely seen as the setting in which the pact may first be tested.

GSM reported the scheduled ratification vote on November 5; this story follows up with the result. (Source: Grand National Assembly of Türkiye)

Related:

Turkey: Parliament Set to Ratify Defence Pact With Saudi Arabia and Pakistan That Includes a Collective Defence Clause

Source: Grand National Assembly of Türkiye

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 照片：土耳其大国民议会会场（资料图），Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu／美国之音 摄，Wikimedia Commons，公共领域 / Photo: Inside the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (file photo), by Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu (VOA), Wikimedia Commons, public domain

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