Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan meet as Ankara pushes for a security pact

The foreign ministers of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan held talks in Riyadh on Thursday, on the sideline of a summit of Islamic countries, and discussed ways to combine their strengths for the first time.

Turkey has, since last year, been seeking a security pact with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Earlier this year, a Pakistani minister said in a statement that such a deal had been in the pipeline for nearly a year.

Turkish sources familiar with the issue previously told Middle East Eye that Ankara was also trying to bring Egypt into the arrangement. The sources said the agreement would not mirror the guarantees and commitments of Nato, but would instead serve as a security platform to enable greater cooperation in the defence industry and broader defence matters.

"We are exploring how, as countries with a certain degree of influence in the region, we can combine our strengths to solve problems," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday.

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