The treaty was signed at a summit in Mecca attended by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey signed a joint security agreement in Mecca on Friday, agreeing to treat an attack on any one of them as an attack against all three.

While the pact creates a framework for broader strategic cooperation, it builds on a mutual defence principle. A statement released by the Pakistan Foreign Office confirmed the scope of the treaty,

“The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three States shall be regarded as an attack against them all.”