Turkey Seeks Leverage in Saudi Defence Pact While Relying on NATO

Turkey is moving to join a defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan even as NATO air defences protect its own airspace. The juxtaposition points not simply to Ankara’s distance from Western allies, but to an effort to gain influence as Washington’s security commitments in the region appear less certain.

Editorial·November 5, 2026·reads: 1,994

Turkey Seeks Leverage in Saudi Defence Pact While Relying on NATO

Turkey’s parliament began ratifying the agreement late on Wednesday, but had approved only the first of its 16 articles by midnight. Debate resumed on Thursday afternoon. The pact, signed in Mecca on 7 August, commits Turkey to the defence of Saudi Arabia; its terms also treat an attack on Riyadh or Islamabad as an attack on Turkey.

The arrangement grew out of a Saudi-Pakistani mutual defence agreement signed on 17 September 2025, days after Israel struck Hamas officials in Doha. Turkey sought to join in January, but talks stalled. They gained urgency after the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February and Saudi Arabia came under repeated attack from Iran, Iraqi militias and the Houthis.

Riyadh asked Washington to strike the Houthis, but President Trump reportedly pulled back rather than open a new front. The account casts that decision as part of a broader retreat that Ankara is trying to turn into leverage, rather than a reason to leave the Western alliance.

The contrast is sharp: eight months earlier, NATO air defences shot down four Iranian ballistic missiles that had crossed into Turkish airspace. The first was reportedly intercepted by an American destroyer. Turkey is therefore seeking a new regional security commitment while continuing to rely on NATO protection at home.