Revealed On 15 Aug 2026
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated Egypt might be part of the joint defence settlement just lately signed by Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, describing Cairo’s accession as “attainable” and the pact as open to additional members.
Talking to Al Jazeera in an unique interview for Al Muqabala (The Interview), which can air on Sunday night on Al Jazeera Arabic, Erdogan stated the Mecca Joint Defence Settlement commits signatories to taking unified steps ought to any one in every of them come underneath exterior assault.
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“This settlement has despatched an essential message to the world,” Erdogan stated, including that Egypt’s participation was among the many choices for its future growth.
The deal, also referred to as the Mecca Pact, was signed within the holy metropolis final Friday by Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif. It stipulates that an armed assault in opposition to any one of many three could be handled as an assault in opposition to all of them, a collective-deterrence provision that analysts have in comparison with NATO’s Article 5. Nonetheless, officers in Islamabad have cautioned in opposition to deciphering it as a NATO equal or as being directed at any single nation.
Erdogan spoke on a variety of regional points, together with tensions over the Strait of Hormuz and the wars in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.
The Turkish chief stated reopening the strait was a precedence for Ankara, arguing that its continued closure served nobody’s pursuits. He credited Qatar with enjoying an essential function in mediation efforts to halt combating within the area.
Syria, Gaza and Lebanon
Erdogan pledged that Turkiye wouldn’t go away its neighbours to face regional turmoil alone, singling out Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.
He stated Ankara would do every thing in its energy to assist stability in Syria, noting his plans to go to the nation, and that Syria’s Kurds would have “a share of peace and stability”. Turkiye would additionally proceed to strengthen ties with Kurdish communities and safeguard their rights throughout the area, he added.
Regarding Gaza, Erdogan stated Turkiye “can’t go away Gaza alone” and would do no matter was essential to assist it. He stated Hamas was assembly its commitments in good religion, whereas Israel continued its battle.
Turning to Lebanon, the Turkish president stated continued Israeli assaults had been a supply of significant concern for Ankara. He stated he had raised the necessity to finish the battle on Lebanon with the US president throughout Donald Trump’s latest go to to Turkiye, stressing Washington’s function in bringing the combating to a detailed.
Erdogan stated Turkiye would proceed to assist Sudan and described his relations with the top of its Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, nearly as good. He stated Ankara’s relations with Libya had been steady and that Turkiye wouldn’t abandon it.
On Europe, Erdogan stated the European Union didn’t seem prepared to confess Turkiye, including that membership was not a precedence for Ankara and that Europe could be “the loser” in consequence.
He additionally stated he had obtained a promise from Trump concerning F-35 fighter jets and was ready for it to be honoured.
Turkiye was faraway from the multinational F-35 programme in 2019 after taking supply of the Russian-made S-400 air defence system, which Washington argued might compromise the stealth jet’s know-how. Standing beside Erdogan in the course of the NATO summit in Ankara final month, Trump stated his administration would elevate the CAATSA sanctions imposed on Turkiye in December 2020 over the S-400 buy, and stated a return to the F-35 programme was “one thing actually we’d take into account”.
Any sale, nevertheless, nonetheless faces resistance in Congress and a 2020 regulation bars the Pentagon from transferring F-35s to Turkiye for so long as it retains the S-400 system.
