Erdoğan opens the Mecca defence pact to Egypt

In an interview with Al Jazeera, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Egypt could join the joint defence agreement that Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed in Mecca earlier in August, calling Cairo's accession possible and the pact open to further members. The agreement provides that an armed attack on any one of the three is to be treated as an attack on all three, a clause analysts have compared to NATO's Article 5, while officials in Islamabad have cautioned against reading it as a NATO equivalent or as aimed at any one country. Erdoğan also said reopening the Strait of Hormuz was a priority for Ankara and credited Qatar with a role in regional mediation.

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