Turkish foreign minister Fidan said the recently signed Mecca Joint Defense
Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan aims to boost regional
autonomy and should be expanded, with additional countries expressing interest
and Egypt likely to join in the next phase, he told Anadolu on the 8th. He said
the pact’s mutual-defense clause is, in technical terms, equivalent to NATO’s
collective-defense clause, but its practical application will depend on
discussions and decisions by the relevant committee.
