Erdogan opens door to Egypt joining Mecca defence agreement

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Egypt could join the joint defence agreement recently signed by Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, calling Cairo’s accession “possible” and describing the pact as open to further members.

Erdogan made the comments in an interview with Al Jazeera for its Al Muqabala programme, set to air Sunday evening on Al Jazeera Arabic.

He said the agreement, signed last Friday in Mecca by Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, commits its signatories to taking unified steps should any one of them come under external attack.

“This agreement has sent an important message to the world,” Erdogan said, adding that Egypt’s participation was among the options being considered for the pact’s future expansion.

The agreement, also known as the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, stipulates that an armed attack against any one of the three signatories would be treated as an attack against them all, a collective-deterrence clause that analysts have likened to NATO’s Article 5 mutual-defence provision.

Officials in Islamabad, however, have pushed back against characterising the pact as a NATO equivalent or as being aimed at any particular country.

Regional conflicts and mediation efforts

Erdogan addressed a range of regional issues in the interview, including tensions over the Strait of Hormuz and the conflicts in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.

He said reopening the strait was a priority for Ankara, arguing its continued closure served no one’s interests, and credited Qatar with playing an important role in mediation efforts to end fighting in the region.

On Syria, Erdogan pledged that Türkiye would not leave its neighbours to face turmoil alone.

He said Ankara would do everything in its power to support stability there, noted his own plans to visit the country, and said Syria’s Kurds would have “a share of peace and stability.”

He added that Türkiye would continue strengthening ties with Kurdish communities and safeguarding their rights across the region.

On Gaza, Erdogan said Türkiye “cannot leave Gaza alone” and would do whatever was necessary to support it. He said Hamas was meeting its commitments in good faith, while Israel continued its war.

Turning to Lebanon, Erdogan said continued Israeli attacks were a source of serious concern for Ankara.

He said he had raised the need to end the war on Lebanon directly with US President Donald Trump during Trump’s recent visit to Türkiye, stressing Washington’s role in bringing the fighting to a close.

Erdogan also said Türkiye would continue to support Sudan, describing his relations with the head of its Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, as good. He said Ankara’s relations with Libya remained stable and that Türkiye would not abandon it.

President Erdogan arrives before a meeting with European Commission President and EU Council President at the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 9, 2020. (AFP Photo)

Erdogan says EU membership no longer a priority

On Europe, Erdogan said the European Union did not appear willing to admit Türkiye, and declared that EU membership was no longer a priority for Ankara. He warned that Europe would ultimately be “the loser” as a result.

Türkiye has held EU candidate status since 1999 and formally opened accession talks in 2005, but the process has been effectively stalled for years amid disputes over rule-of-law standards, Cyprus and other issues.

Erdogan awaits Trump pledge on F-35 jets

Erdogan said he had received a promise from Trump regarding Türkiye’s return to the F-35 fighter jet programme and was waiting for it to be honoured.

Türkiye was removed from the multinational F-35 programme in 2019 after taking delivery of Russia’s S-400 air defence system, a purchase Washington argued could compromise the stealth jet’s sensitive technology.

Standing beside Erdogan at last month’s NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said his administration would lift the CAATSA sanctions imposed on Türkiye in December 2020 over the S-400 purchase, and said a return to the F-35 programme was “something certainly we’d consider.”

Any such sale still faces resistance in the US Congress. A 2020 law bars the Pentagon from transferring F-35 jets to Türkiye for as long as it retains the S-400 system.

August 15, 2026 11:06 PM GMT+03:00