Turkiye’s parliament ratifies Mecca defence agreement

Turkiye’s parliament has ratified a defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that includes a collective defence clause, committing NATO’s second-largest military to the group’s aid in case of attack.

The ratification on Thursday comes as Riyadh continues to face attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.

Turkiye first signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in August and sent it to parliament for ratification last month.

Article 1 of a bill approving the pact was adopted by the Turkish parliament on Wednesday.

But afterwards, Deputy Parliament Speaker Celal Adan adjourned the session until Thursday afternoon, the Anadolu news agency reported.

After parliament returned to session, lawmakers continued to debate the other articles in the pact.

The agreement ultimately passed with 279 votes in favour and 119 against, with 398 of the chamber’s 592 lawmakers taking part in the vote.

The pact contains 16 articles, according to a document submitted to the Turkish parliament, seen by the Reuters news agency.

In Article 1 of the accord, the signatories shall use “all necessary means” to eliminate threats to one another’s territorial integrity. Article 1 can be invoked in case of an attack on any member state.

Once the first article is invoked, the document lays out provisions for what follows.

“In the event one of the parties is subjected to an armed attack or military aggression by another country or group of countries, the parties shall immediately provide assistance to the party under attack, utilising the full range of mutual assistance measures available to them,” says Article 2 of the pact.

This key clause mirrors Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the document that established the NATO military alliance. NATO’s Article 5 establishes that an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all.

Given that Turkiye is a member of both NATO and the Mecca pact, critics have raised questions about whether the country’s government might face a conflict of interest in allocating its military resources.

Turkish officials, however, have dismissed such concerns as unfounded.

Other articles in the Mecca pact concern a mutual agreement to increase defence industry cooperation and military coordination, with the aim of deterring threats.

Those articles, in part, commit member states to conducting joint training, pursuing technological innovation and sharing logistics and intelligence resources.

The draft approved by Turkish lawmakers commits member countries to the pact for 10 years, after which point they may withdraw.

It also leaves open the possibility of other countries joining, with the approval of the pact’s existing members. Syria’s government has already expressed interest.

Despite Thursday’s parliamentary ratification, it is not a foregone conclusion that Turkish troops would be deployed to Saudi Arabia amid the Houthi attacks.

Experts say any Turkish troop deployment would also require other legislative processes.

Turkiye’s Defence Minister Yasar Guler said in October that the scope of potential support for Saudi Arabia would be determined after ratification.

“We absolutely do not foresee entering into any conflict with the Houthis,” Turkish media reported Guler as saying. Instead, Turkish support “would be to strengthen deterrence”.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen had abated somewhat following a 2022 ceasefire. But the Houthis have escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent months, notably launching a series of deadly strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

The region also remains embroiled in the US-Israel war on Iran, which has contributed to cross-border tensions.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia announced it had intercepted a drone in the region of Medina. Riyadh has accused the Houthis several times of targeting Mecca and Medina, two holy cities in Islam, an accusation the Iran-backed group systematically rejects.