Turkiye’s top officials head to Riyadh for defence pact talks amid Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will travel to Riyadh on Monday to attend a meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee formed under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, the trilateral security pact linking Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources.

Fidan will be joined at the meeting by National Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, underscoring the significance Ankara has placed on the gathering. Sources said Fidan intends to present Turkiye’s views on formally institutionalizing the alliance and on next steps for its continued development, along with an assessment of threats currently facing peace and stability across the Middle East.

Fidan is expected to reaffirm Turkiye’s strong solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of recent Houthi attacks and to state plainly that any provocative actions targeting holy sites are unacceptable, a reference to recent Houthi strikes that have hit Saudi territory, including an attack on a power station in Madina. He is also expected to highlight the alliance’s value not only in coordinating a joint response to existing threats but in helping prevent future regional crises from emerging in the first place, while stressing that resolving disputes through peaceful means should remain the region’s priority and that further escalatory actions should be avoided. Sources said he also plans to reiterate the importance of safeguarding freedom and security of navigation along international trade routes and to draw attention to what Ankara views as Israel’s continued undermining of efforts to build peace and stability in the region.

The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement was signed on August 7 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, establishing a framework built around collective deterrence and defence among the three countries. The agreement reflects a shared commitment among the signatories to developing regional solutions to regional security challenges.

The Strategic Political and Defence Committee, composed of the three countries’ foreign and defence ministers along with their chiefs of General Staff, was created to guide implementation of the pact and held its inaugural meeting in Istanbul on August 31. That first session produced foundational decisions and reviewed technical progress toward institutionalizing the alliance, including plans to establish a permanent secretariat in Riyadh. Retired Pakistani Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood has since been named the alliance’s first secretary-general.

The three countries’ foreign ministers also met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24, where they discussed regional developments and issued a joint statement condemning attacks on the holy city of Makkah as well as on Saudi Arabia’s civilian and economic infrastructure. The three chiefs of General Staff held a separate meeting in Riyadh on September 25.

Monday’s gathering comes as Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have continued intensifying, adding urgency to the alliance’s work less than two months after its founding. With the pact’s secretariat still in the process of being established and threats to Saudi territory continuing to mount, the meeting is likely to serve as an early test of how quickly the three countries can translate their joint defence framework into coordinated operational responses, rather than remaining a largely symbolic show of solidarity.