Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says Egypt could become the next member of the Pakistan-Saudi-Türkiye defence alliance once outstanding technical issues are resolved.
Speaking to Türkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency on Saturday, Fidan described Egypt as a “natural partner” and said he expected Cairo to join the alliance at a later stage.
“There are a few technical issues. Once these are implemented, there is no reason for Egypt not to be part of it,” Fidan said.
The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, signed in Saudi Arabia on Friday by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, seeks to strengthen collective deterrence among the three countries. Under the agreement, an armed attack against one member is to be treated as an attack against all three.
Fidan said several other countries had also expressed interest in joining the agreement, although some had requested that their identities remain undisclosed.
According to Fidan, the three founding members have discussed how the alliance could expand. The preferred framework would keep Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan as the core founding members, responsible for establishing the alliance’s principles, standards and long-term structure.
Other countries could subsequently join with the approval of the three founding members.
“Under our president’s vision, we should not remain limited to three countries. We should grow,” Fidan said.
Fidan also stressed that the initiative should not be viewed solely through the traditional Middle Eastern lens. Pakistan’s participation, he said, gives the emerging security framework a broader regional dimension extending beyond the conventional boundaries of the Middle East.
‘Similar to NATO’s Article 5’
Fidan further described the agreement as technically comparable to NATO’s Article 5, which establishes the principle of collective defence among NATO members.
The comments signal that the three-country defence framework could evolve into a broader regional security alliance, with Egypt potentially becoming its first additional member.
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