By Murat Yıldız
One day after Turkish lawmakers debated what Türkiye would do if Saudi Arabia sought help over Yemen, the Houthis claimed a drone strike on a Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan. A month later, attacks hit four southern Saudi cities. Ankara condemned the September strikes without invoking the new defense pact with Riyadh and Islamabad.
The Mecca Pact, formally the Makkah Agreement for Joint Defence, was signed in Mecca on August 7 by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Officials in the three countries have described its central commitment as treating an armed attack on one member as an attack on all. The text has not been made public.
Yemen Was Already in the Parliamentary Debate
The agreement entered the debate in the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM) on August 8.
Turhan Çömez, parliamentary group deputy chair of the İYİ Party, asked under what authority the agreement had been signed and said it had to come to parliament under Article 90 of the Constitution. He then put a Yemen scenario directly to the chamber.
According to the parliamentary record, Çömez asked what Türkiye would do if Saudi Arabia said, "Come, join this war, help us, let us open the Bab el-Mandeb Strait." He also raised the possibility of conflicts involving Pakistan with Afghanistan or India.
Murat Emir, parliamentary group deputy chair of Yeni Parti, said his party was waiting for the agreement to reach parliament and would demand an explanation of why Türkiye was assuming those risks.
Özlem Zengin, parliamentary group deputy chair of the ruling AK Party, answered for the government side. She said correspondence between the parties would be followed by submission of the agreement to parliament through the Presidency, where it would be debated under Article 90.
"Once it is approved by our parliament, it will enter into force," Zengin said.
She described the pact as a regional collective defense arrangement that could later be opened to other countries in the region. Zengin also said it was not directed against any country and did not violate Türkiye's NATO obligations.
Filiz Kılıç, parliamentary group deputy chair of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Erdoğan's governing ally, backed the agreement but cautioned that it would be unrealistic to expect it to solve all of the Middle East's problems on its own.
Houthis Claimed Jazan Refinery Strike the Next Day
On August 9, the Houthis said they had carried out a drone attack on a Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan, two days after the pact was signed and one day after the Turkish parliamentary debate.
Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry confirmed that a fire at the facility had been extinguished and said there were no injuries. It did not attribute the fire to the Houthi claim.
On September 8, the Houthis attacked Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran in southern Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition said 73 people were injured, while the Energy Ministry reported fires at several energy facilities.
Türkiye's Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks "in the strongest terms," reaffirmed support for Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and called on the Houthis to stop. The statement did not mention the Mecca Pact.
On September 12, the ministry condemned drone attacks launched from Iraqi territory against Saudi Arabia. It praised Riyadh's "restrained approach aimed at preventing an escalation of tensions" and welcomed Baghdad's decision to investigate. The pact was again absent from the statement.
AK Party deputy chair and spokesperson Ömer Çelik discussed the agreement on September 10. He called it a "micro model" for regional states to protect peace on their own initiative and said new members would join. He also said "everything is still very new" and that the alliance's principles and entry rules would take time to establish. He did not link those remarks to the Saudi attacks.
Speaking to young people in Samsun on September 14, Erdoğan said the three countries had come together to send a signal to the Islamic world. "There are good developments, and we will achieve this too," he said, according to remarks carried by Turkish media.
Pakistan Says Response Mechanisms Are Not Yet in Place
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry condemned the September 8 attacks and said it fully supported Saudi Arabia's legitimate right, under the UN Charter and international law, to take all necessary measures.
The next day, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the pact could become operational if the conflict in Yemen spilled over into Saudi Arabia.
On September 10, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan was asked how Pakistan would meet its obligations under the agreement. He called the question hypothetical, said no such discussion was taking place and added that Pakistan would act in line with the pact's stipulations.
Asked whether the alliance's defense system was already operational, Khan described the pact as an "umbrella agreement" and said further mechanisms would have to be established.
"At this stage, I don't think we should be discussing this topic in the context of its operationalization," he said.
Pakistani forces already in Saudi Arabia, Khan added, were there under separate bilateral defense cooperation for training and logistics.
Alliance Secretariat Set for Saudi Arabia
The three governments began building the alliance's institutions before Türkiye completed its parliamentary process.
At the first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Istanbul on August 31, foreign and defense ministers and military chiefs agreed to deepen the institutional structure. They decided to establish a secretariat in Saudi Arabia, with a Pakistani secretary-general serving the first three-year term.
Türkiye has yet to complete the process Zengin described in parliament on August 8. The agreement has not reached the TBMM for approval, and its text remains outside the public record.
Pakistan's account after the September attacks also left the defense mechanism unfinished. Khan said additional arrangements still had to be established before the pact could be discussed as an operational defense system.
Saudi Arabia has faced attacks from Yemen and from Iraqi territory since the agreement was signed. Türkiye's written responses to the September attacks condemned them and backed Saudi sovereignty, but neither invoked the Mecca Pact.
Sources: TBMM General Assembly record of August 8, 2026, Türkiye's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Makkah Agreement for Joint Defence Strategic Political and Defence Committee joint statement, AK Party, Saudi-led coalition, Saudi Energy Ministry, Reuters, AP, Bosphorus News review and reporting.