Printed On 15 Aug 2026
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated Egypt may be a part of the joint defence settlement lately signed by Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, describing Cairo’s accession as “doable” and the pact as open to additional members.
Chatting with Al Jazeera in an unique interview for Al Muqabala (The Interview), which is able to air on Sunday night on Al Jazeera Arabic, Erdogan stated the Mecca Joint Defence Settlement commits signatories to taking unified steps ought to any one in all them come beneath exterior assault.
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“This settlement has despatched an essential message to the world,” Erdogan stated, including that Egypt’s participation was among the many choices for its future enlargement.
The deal, also called the Mecca Pact, was signed within the holy metropolis final Friday by Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif. It stipulates that an armed assault towards any one of many three could be handled as an assault towards all of them, a collective-deterrence provision that analysts have in comparison with NATO’s Article 5. Nevertheless, officers in Islamabad have cautioned towards decoding it as a NATO equal or as being directed at any single nation.
Erdogan spoke on a spread of regional points, together with tensions over the Strait of Hormuz and the wars in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.
The Turkish chief stated reopening the strait was a precedence for Ankara, arguing that its continued closure served nobody’s pursuits. He credited Qatar with enjoying an essential position in mediation efforts to halt combating within the area.
Syria, Gaza and Lebanon
Erdogan pledged that Turkiye wouldn’t depart its neighbours to face regional turmoil alone, singling out Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.
He stated Ankara would do every little thing in its energy to assist stability in Syria, noting his plans to go to the nation, and that Syria’s Kurds would have “a share of peace and stability”. Turkiye would additionally proceed to strengthen ties with Kurdish communities and safeguard their rights throughout the area, he added.
Regarding Gaza, Erdogan stated Turkiye “can’t depart Gaza alone” and would do no matter was essential to assist it. He stated Hamas was assembly its commitments in good religion, whereas Israel continued its warfare.
Turning to Lebanon, the Turkish president stated continued Israeli assaults had been a supply of great concern for Ankara. He stated he had raised the necessity to finish the warfare on Lebanon with the US president throughout Donald Trump’s current go to to Turkiye, stressing Washington’s position in bringing the combating to an in depth.
Erdogan stated Turkiye would proceed to assist Sudan and described his relations with the pinnacle of its Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, pretty much as good. He stated Ankara’s relations with Libya had been secure and that Turkiye wouldn’t abandon it.
On Europe, Erdogan stated the European Union didn’t seem keen to confess Turkiye, including that membership was now not a precedence for Ankara and that Europe could be “the loser” because of this.
He additionally stated he had obtained a promise from Trump concerning F-35 fighter jets and was ready for it to be honoured.
Turkiye was faraway from the multinational F-35 programme in 2019 after taking supply of the Russian-made S-400 air defence system, which Washington argued may compromise the stealth jet’s expertise. Standing beside Erdogan throughout the NATO summit in Ankara final month, Trump stated his administration would carry the CAATSA sanctions imposed on Turkiye in December 2020 over the S-400 buy, and stated a return to the F-35 programme was “one thing definitely we’d take into account”.
Any sale, nonetheless, nonetheless faces resistance in Congress and a 2020 regulation bars the Pentagon from transferring F-35s to Turkiye for so long as it retains the S-400 system.
