Turkey is seeking to facilitate a deeper Pakistani role in Middle East and Persian Gulf security affairs, according to highly informed sources in Athens, amid efforts to broaden a new regional defense framework.
Information that reached Athens shortly after the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan indicates that Ankara is mediating a separate defense cooperation agreement between Islamabad and Doha.
If realized, the move would signal that Qatar is prepared, if not immediately then in a later phase, to join the defense arrangement involving Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. The reported developments have drawn the attention of Israel, which views the trilateral relationship as a quasi-hostile alliance.
At the same time, Pakistan’s deeper involvement in Saudi security has not appeared to produce tangible results, as reflected in the latest advance of the Houthis, who now control a significant city in western Yemen north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
Pakistan already maintains a security agreement with Saudi Arabia and has forces stationed in the kingdom. The regional situation is therefore testing the effectiveness of what is, at least in theory, a defensive alliance.
