Turkey is hailing an 'Islamic Nato' it can neither afford nor deliver

Turkey has praised the Islamic Nato, signed in Mecca with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but admits it can neither afford nor deliver the agreement's commitments. The defense pact, signed on August 7th, 2026, emerged from a long-standing need for alignment and was intensified by recent events, including Hamas' attacks on Israel and Israel's subsequent actions supported by the US.

The global and regional security landscape has become more unpredictable, leading countries to seek their own security structures. While Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia will not replace Nato or their other defense commitments with this pact, they are defining a role for themselves in the space left vacant by other alliances. The lowered threshold for conflict between states and the failure of the Abraham Accords to include or antagonize most countries in the region have accelerated this alliance.

However, the Mecca pact is not a replacement for Nato but rather a new form of alliance that will require time to deepen and address gaps in geographical continuity, technical compatibility, and coordination on threats and projections.