The text of the Mecca Defense Agreement has not been published; the promise to send it to the parliament has not been fulfilled

According to Kurdistan Press, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan announced the signing of the "Mecca Defense Agreement" on August 7. According to information published so far, the agreement covers security and defense cooperation between the three countries and considers an attack on one of the members as a threat to the other parties.

According to the Cumhuriyet newspaper, more than two months after the announcement of the signing of the agreement, its full text has not been made available to the public, nor has a copy of it been published in the Turkish or international media.Three promises to send the agreement to parliament

After the new term of the Turkish parliament began on October 1, opposition parties called on the government to submit the text of the agreement to parliament for review and approval, in accordance with the constitution.

“The agreement is scheduled to be submitted to parliament in the next few days,” said Ömer Çelik, spokesman for the Justice and Development Party, on October 7.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan made similar remarks on October 8, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after a cabinet meeting, said on October 12 that the Mecca defense agreement would be sent to parliament for approval in the coming days. Reuters also reported Erdogan’s comments on the same day that the agreement would soon be sent to parliament.

Despite these promises, the text of the agreement was not submitted to parliament by the end of the week and was not included in the agenda of the deputies. The Turkish government has not yet announced a new time for sending the document or a reason for the delay.Is there a full text of the agreement?

The secrecy surrounding the agreement has raised questions about the scope of the three countries’ military commitments. It is unclear what mechanisms the Mecca agreement envisions for mutual military assistance, troop deployment, intelligence sharing, defense industry cooperation, or response to a foreign attack.

Asked by the Cumhuriyet newspaper on August 13 when the full text of the agreement would be released, Pakistan’s ambassador to Ankara, Yusuf Junaid, pointed to a one-page press release issued after the signing ceremony, saying, “We have already released the text.”

The response raised questions about whether there is a detailed legal document in addition to the one-page public statement. The governments of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan have not yet released a full, official version of the agreement to the public.A deal with unclear commitments

The ambiguity over the text of the agreement is important because international treaties that create obligations for Turkey must be ratified by parliament, according to the country’s constitution. Without access to the text, lawmakers cannot comment on or vote on the extent of Turkey’s political, military, and financial commitments under the agreement.

The delay in submitting the agreement to parliament continued as the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia heightened the debate over Turkey’s and Pakistan’s practical commitments to Riyadh. At the same time as Erdogan promised to submit the agreement to parliament, he condemned the Houthi attacks and stressed Turkey’s solidarity with Saudi Arabia.

However, until the full text is published, it is unclear whether the “Mecca Defense Agreement” is simply a political framework for cooperation between the three countries or whether it creates a binding commitment for collective defense and mutual military response.Presenting the document to the parliament could clarify the legal and executive dimensions of this agreement for the first time.