Turkish, Saudi, Pakistani ministers hold first defense pact meeting

Turkiye hosted Saudi Arabia and Pakistan for the first ministerial meeting of their new regional defense grouping on Monday. The Mecca Joint defense Agreement signed earlier this month commits the three countries to mutual defense in the event of any of them being attacked.

The meeting in Istanbul set up a "political and defense strategic committee" involving foreign and defense ministers and military chiefs, Turkish foreign ministry sources said. The agreement unites NATO's second-largest army, Turkiye, with the Islamic world's only nuclear-armed state, Pakistan, and the leading Gulf power in Saudi Arabia.