Türkiye has completed preparations to submit the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement to parliament for approval, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday, emphasising that the pact is designed for mutual defence and does not authorise offensive military operations.
Fidan said he made a final presentation on the agreement to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday and that Türkiye intends to send the pact to parliament as soon as possible.
“Once a country that is party to the agreement is attacked, you stand by it for its defence. This is not an attack agreement,” Fidan said at a joint news conference in Ankara with Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Anita Orban.
He added that Türkiye would not deploy troops into another country’s territory to conduct an attack.
Ankara weighs defensive support for Saudi Arabia
Fidan said Türkiye’s participation in the October 5 meeting of the Mecca Agreement’s Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Riyadh was prompted largely by attacks targeting Saudi Arabia.
The meeting also addressed the alliance’s institutional structure, including the military headquarters, secretariat and appointment of a new secretary.
Fidan said the agreement had moved quickly toward institutionalisation and practical implementation despite being signed only recently, adding that the participating countries were demonstrating their determination to produce concrete results.
He said Türkiye and Pakistan had discussed what support could be provided to Saudi Arabia against attacks from Yemen’s Houthi group, while stressing that efforts to resolve the Yemen conflict through peace and dialogue would continue.
Current reporting says Ankara is particularly assessing defensive capabilities, including air-defence support
Fidan warns against Black Sea escalation
Turning to the Russia-Ukraine war, Fidan warned that the conflict must not turn the Black Sea into another front.
“We must never allow the Black Sea to turn into a new front of conflict,” he said, describing the war as a major threat to regional and global stability.
Fidan said Türkiye had worked since the start of the conflict to prevent fighting from spilling into the Black Sea, citing its implementation of the Montreux Convention and its role in the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
He said intensified Russian and Ukrainian attacks ahead of winter were increasingly affecting maritime safety, including Turkish-flagged and Turkish-owned vessels and ships carrying Turkish personnel.
Fidan also warned that attacks on civilian vessels threatened lives, property, navigation and the environment, while disruptions to grain shipments could worsen food-security pressures, particularly in Africa.
Türkiye pushes for Gaza aid and political settlement
On Gaza, Fidan said Türkiye was continuing diplomatic efforts at bilateral, regional and international levels to support an end to the conflict and establish lasting peace.
He identified increased humanitarian aid deliveries, the entry of the Palestinian National Committee into Gaza to assume administrative responsibilities and the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force as key steps.
Fidan also said Türkiye would continue diplomatic efforts over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as concerns surrounding Al-Aqsa Mosque, arguing that the conflict was contributing to instability across the region.
“We will continue our determined, constructive and result-oriented efforts,” he said.
