Click to see full-size image. (Anadolu Agency)
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a joint defense agreement on August 7, pledging to strengthen collective security, deepen defense cooperation and promote peace and stability in the region and beyond.
The agreement was signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the holy Islamic city of Mecca in a joint ceremony.
“The agreement aims to bolster collective deterrence against all forms of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack carried out against any one of the three states shall be considered an attack against all of them,” the leaders said in a joint statement. “The agreement also provides for the development of defense cooperation among the three states in all its dimensions.”
A Turkish official told Reuters that the agreement was defensive in nature, was not directed against any specific actor, was open to other regional countries, and did not abrogate or replace any existing bilateral or multilateral arrangements.
Meanwhile, an Ankara-based source told the Middle East Eye that the agreement would change the balance of power in the region. “If successfully implemented,” the source said, “the deal will enhance the stability and security of people living in this part of the world.”
Turkey has NATO’s second-largest military. Saudi Arabia is home to Islam’s holiest sites and is one of the world’s top oil exporters. Pakistan, meanwhile, is the only nuclear-armed Muslim country.
The three Sunni-majority nations have been particularly concerned by the growing influence of both Jewish Israel and Shiite Iran.
Amid the war with the U.S. and Israel, Tehran has attacked bases hosting American troops and civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan and Israel. Both Pakistan and Turkey have avoided significant direct attacks but have been heavily involved in diplomatic efforts to end the war.
It’s worth noting that Pakistan already had a direct defense pact with Saudi Arabia, and after the start of the war on Iran, it dispatched thousands of troops to the kingdom, along with warplanes and air defenses. Turkey, meanwhile, has been expanding defense cooperation with Saudi Arabia, mainly through a multibillion-dollar drone deal.
While both nations stand to gain economically from cooperating with Saudi Arabia, the deal could drag them, in one way or another, into the conflict with Iran, or even into a fight with the Houthis in Yemen, who have been escalating attacks against the kingdom for the past few weeks. Historically, though, such defense agreements have rarely been honored in the region.
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looks like the sunni empires want to come to an end too these dumbass don’t learn watch them crumble and beg for mercy