The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement was signed at Al-Safa Palace in Mecca on 7 August 2026, in three originals, the Turkish, Arabic and English texts equally authentic, English prevailing in case of difference. Signatories: Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey; Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan. Article 16: ratification under each party’s internal procedures; entry into force on deposit of the last instrument with the secretariat of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee; indefinite duration; withdrawal after ten years from entry into force, with three months’ notice. It is not the Saudi–Pakistan Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement of 17 September 2025, which it extends by including Turkey.

Article 1: co-operation to safeguard independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and recognised borders. Article 2: an externally originating armed attack against one party is an attack against all; immediate assistance, within available resources, under Article 51 of the UN Charter, after an objective assessment of the support required — a framework, not an operational handbook. Articles 3–4: defence co-operation and regular consultations on international security.

Article 5: strengthening joint efforts against terrorism, as a matter of principle. Articles 6–7: personnel exchanges, exercises and defence-industrial co-operation by mutual agreement — not a technology catalogue. Article 8: a Strategic Committee (foreign and defence ministers and chiefs of general staff), meeting twice a year; a secretariat seated in Saudi Arabia; the first secretary-general a Pakistani citizen, three-year rotational term; accession of further parties by consensus of the core parties.

Articles 9–10 provide, as a matter of principle, for intelligence sharing through agreed channels and logistical support subject to availability, with confidentiality duties — not an intelligence or supply handbook. Article 12: without prejudice to prior international agreements. Article 14: disputes by amicable consultation. Article 15: amendments by unanimity of the core parties. The 16-article text was published with Turkey’s parliamentary ratification process.

Cover: Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, the city of signature; we do not claim Al-Safa Palace. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Mecca Defence Alliance; Text of the Makkah defence agreement.