By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Türkiye hosts the first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Istanbul on Monday, bringing together the foreign and defence ministers and senior military leadership of Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan less than a month after the three countries signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7.
The committee is expected to begin putting an operating structure around the Mecca Pact, including the general secretariat, an implementation roadmap and the mechanisms through which the three governments intend to coordinate political and military decisions.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Defence Minister Yaşar Güler and Chief of General Staff Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu will represent Ankara. Pakistan has separately confirmed that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Field Marshal Asim Munir will attend. Munir has served as Pakistan's chief of defence forces since December 2025 while retaining his position as chief of army staff.
Saudi Arabia is expected to be represented by Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman and Chief of General Staff Gen. Fayyadh bin Hamed Al Ruwaili, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources cited by Anadolu Agency.
Fidan met Dar in Istanbul on Sunday, one day before the committee convenes.
Turkish officials say the agenda covers international security, defence capability development, interoperability among the three armed forces, joint defence production and research and development, and counterterrorism cooperation.
Several of those areas were already identified after the pact was signed. Turkish defence officials said earlier in August that cooperation could extend to joint land, naval and air exercises, air defence, unmanned systems, electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, logistics and joint development and production programs.
Monday's meeting begins the work of turning that list into an operating structure.
Fidan has said the pact's general secretariat will be based in Saudi Arabia, but little has been made public about how the body will operate. Its staffing, financing, authority and relationship with the three defence establishments remain undefined in the public record. One question is whether it develops as a diplomatic coordination office or acquires a standing role in military planning and implementation.
The mutual defence clause is less defined. The agreement says an attack against one party will be considered an attack against all three, while Fidan has said the degree, form and format of assistance would be decided through consultations.
The public text does not say whether any military response would be automatic, how far the commitment extends geographically, how decisions would be made during a crisis or what command arrangements would apply if the clause were invoked.
The pact also has to sit alongside three very different existing security arrangements. Türkiye is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Saudi Arabia maintains extensive defence ties with the United States and other Western partners, while Pakistan brings its own nuclear deterrent and South Asian security commitments. Turkish officials have said the Mecca Pact is intended to complement existing alliances and partnerships rather than replace them.
Expansion remains unresolved. Ankara has described the pact as open to countries that respect international law and share its principles, and Fidan has publicly identified Egypt as a potential candidate.
No accession procedure has been published. It is unclear who proposes a new member, who approves admission and when the mutual defence clause would begin to apply.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has already issued its own advance confirmation of Monday's meeting and delegation. Bosphorus News had located no comparable Saudi advance readout as of Sunday evening.
What the three governments publish after the meeting will provide the first measure of how far the pact has moved beyond the August 7 declaration. A decision on the secretariat, military coordination or procedures for invoking the mutual defence clause would mark the first institutional step.
Sources: Türkiye's Foreign Ministry, Pakistan Foreign Ministry, Reuters, Anadolu Agency, TRT Haber, Daily Sabah, Bosphorus News review and reporting.