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Erdogan wants Turkey-Saudi Arabia-Pakistan defence pact to draw more countries
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said Istanbul expects Egypt to join the pact ‘in the next stage’
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he hoped more countries would join a defence agreement signed last week between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan aimed at stabilising a region wracked by conflict.
The so-called Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed on Friday as the Middle East grapples with fallout from the US-Iran war, which has dragged in regional players and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
“Our vision for it is not limited to the three countries,” the Turkish leader told the London-based Al-Sharq al-Awsat daily. “Rather, we aspire for it to grow, and perhaps appropriate conditions will emerge one day for all countries of the region to gather under its umbrella.”
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday said Turkey expected Egypt to join the pact “in the next stage”, telling the Anadolu state news agency only “a few technical issues” stood in the way.
Egypt has not commented on the agreement nor on the remarks by Fidan, who will visit Cairo on Thursday and Friday.
Cairo has robust military cooperation with Ankara, but has given no indication it intends to sign up to the new security alliance, which contains a Nato-style clause saying any attack on one would be seen as an attack on all.
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