Turkey Ratifies 'Mecca Agreement' for Joint Defense with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia

The Turkish parliament ratified the 'Mecca Agreement for Joint Defense' concluded between Turkey, Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the ratification law, numbered 7597, was published in the Official Gazette on 14 November 2026.

The agreement establishes a framework for defense cooperation among the three states, and is the first of its kind to bring Ankara, Islamabad and Riyadh together in a single joint security arrangement. The Official Gazette did not disclose the detailed provisions of the agreement.

The Official Gazette, in the same issue, included a series of presidential decisions relating to the energy sector; decisions numbered 11976, 11977, 11978, 11979 and 11980 authorized the urgent expropriation of private properties for TEİAŞ electricity transmission line projects with capacities of 154 kilovolts and 400 kilovolts in several provinces. Decision No. 11981 also authorized the urgent expropriation of a property in the Kahraman-Kazan area of Ankara for the construction of a natural gas distribution facility.

On the higher education front, Decision No. 11971 provided for the establishment of a coordination committee for university hospitals, while Decision No. 11973 allocated a new annex area to the technology development zone of Gaziantep University (Gaziantep Teknopark OSB).