Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, which signed the Mecca Agreement on Joint Defence, have agreed to establish a secretariat in Saudi Arabia. For the first three years, it will be headed by a Secretary-General from Pakistan. This was announced following the first meeting of the format’s participants, which took place on 31 August in Istanbul.
The name of the future Secretary-General has not yet been announced.
Officials at the meeting explained that the secretariat would be responsible for day-to-day coordination, organising joint military exercises, exchanging intelligence and monitoring threats to regional security.
Masoud Al-Fak, an analyst from Riyadh, described the agreement in comments to Radio Free Europe’s Iranian service as “an important development in the region’s security architecture”. In his view, the current war in the Middle East “has created a new regional security environment” and has been one of the main reasons for the formation of this alliance:
“These countries believe they face common threats, and they think this partnership can act as a deterrent. The main aim is to promote regional security and stability, rather than seeking confrontation or waging war.”
One of the provisions of the agreement explicitly enshrines the principle of collective defence: any armed attack on any of the three states will be regarded as an attack on all of them.
The participants in the initiative also stated that other countries, including Egypt and Bangladesh, may join the group in the future.
At the same time, they emphasise that the alliance is not directed against any specific country. Saudi Arabia, where power is in the hands of Sunni Muslims, has already been targeted by Iranian missiles and drones since the start of the US-Israeli war against predominantly Shia Iran.