Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will host his counterparts from Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany in Istanbul on Friday for high-level consultations on the ongoing wars destabilizing the Middle East, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Thursday.
1+The high-stakes agenda will prioritize the escalating maritime standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, the ongoing armed campaigns in Yemen and Ukraine, and renewed multilateral attempts to advance the establishment of a ‘Palestinian’ state. The gathering takes place under the shadow of the trilateral mutual defense treaty signed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan in Mecca in August. The landmark agreement established a collective defense pact among the three nations, explicitly stipulating that any armed assault perpetrated against one signatory will be treated as an attack against all three.
In a related development highlighting the rapid operational integration between Ankara and Riyadh, Reuters reported that a lawmaker from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) revealed on Wednesday that the government intends to seek parliamentary approval to deploy Turkish Armed Forces personnel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1+According to the Turkish lawmaker, the initial deployment will include military experts and specialized technical personnel sent to reinforce Saudi Arabia’s air defense umbrella, bolster electronic warfare capabilities, and support key defensive infrastructure sectors. The official stressed that the deployed Turkish detachments would remain strictly confined to defensive advisory roles and would not take part in offensive kinetic operations.
The dual diplomatic and military maneuvers underscore Turkey’s ambition to position itself as a central security guarantor across the Middle East. With commercial shipping facing persistent projectile and drone strikes in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea corridors, Friday’s Istanbul gathering aims to coordinate policy between regional Arab heavyweights and leading European powers seeking to contain wider economic and security fallout.