Turkish Parliament Approves Mecca Agreement and Scope of Commitments
According to Alhurra, the Turkish parliament's ratification of the Mecca joint defense agreement signed between Ankara, Riyadh, and Islamabad paves the way for an official Turkish commitment to Saudi Arabia. The 16-article agreement, signed in August, binds the three nations to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. Lawmakers passed the pact with 279 votes to 119 in the 600-seat parliament, despite opposition warnings that it could drag Turkey into regional conflicts. However, experts note that parliamentary approval does not automatically mean sending troops, as troop deployment requires a separate mandate under the Turkish constitution. Bekir Atacan, director of the Academy of Thought for Strategic Studies in Istanbul, told Alhurra that the agreement is purely defensive and Turkish forces would remain strictly within Saudi borders. Meanwhile, retired Saudi major general and strategic security researcher Abdullah Ghanem Al-Qahtani emphasized that military, security, and political cooperation had already begun prior to the completion of Turkish parliamentary ratification.