Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement during a news conference in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.
Abbas called the pact “very important” and stated that the agreement could serve as a foundation for security in the region. “I hope it will be a starting point for ensuring stability and security in the region and defending the interests of the Muslim Ummah,” Abbas said.
Abbas described the discussions with Erdogan as “very important and productive” after the two leaders reviewed developments in the region and relations between the two governments. Abbas thanked Erdogan and Türkiye for supporting Palestinian rights and the Palestinian cause.
The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement links Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the pact on Friday in Makkah.
The framework establishes that an armed attack directed at any one of the three member states constitutes an attack on all three.
Under the terms of the pact, the three nations aim to strengthen deterrence against potential acts of aggression. The pact requires the three countries to support the security of each member state, expand cooperation within the defence industry, and enhance military interoperability among their armed forces without targeting any specific nation.
During the news conference, Erdogan stated that Türkiye will work for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as the capital, based on 1967 borders. Erdogan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to undermine Palestinian statehood through actions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“The Netanyahu government aims to remove Palestine from the common agenda of humanity by profiting from chaos and new conflicts in the region,” Erdogan said. “They will not succeed.”
Erdogan opposed actions aimed at changing the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic and Christian sites in East Jerusalem. He stated that supporting Palestine remains a shared responsibility of humanity and the Muslim world, while calling for efforts to establish conditions for security and reconstruction in Gaza.
