The Foreign Affairs Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly convened to discuss the legislative proposal to approve the Mecca Defense Agreement in accordance with Article 90 of the Constitution. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Levent Gümrükçü, Deputy Minister of National Defense ... also attended the meeting chaired by Commission Chairman and AKP Ankara Deputy Fuat Oktay. There was intense interest from members of parliament and the press in the meeting.
'EVERY STEP TO BE TAKEN WILL BE CONSIDERED'
In his opening speech, Fuat Oktay said, "It can be stated that this alliance architecture is built on three main pillars: Joint defense, determined fight against terrorism and the development of domestic opportunities in the defense industry. For years, the Middle East and the surrounding geographies have paid a heavy price for externally imposed interventions, imported security formulas and proxy wars. It is of great importance to stop this trend and to produce solutions to the problems of the region from within the region itself. In this context, with the Mecca Agreement, 'strategic dialogue, mutual trust and unity "Building a collective deterrence shield in the Middle East by growing the working culture is a significant development. The talks held in Tehran yesterday are valuable in this sense," he said.
Oktay also said, "Rather than the automatic and mechanical operation of the collective defense provisions, it seems that the principle that every step to be taken should come into force within the framework of the parties' own constitutional obligations, national legislation and the acts of their competent authorities has been adopted."
PROCEDURE DISCUSSION STEP
After Oktay's speech, NEW Party Deputy Chairman Utku Çakırözer wanted to open a procedural discussion. Çakırözer said, "This agreement is an agreement that directly concerns our security. Therefore, it should have gone to the secondary commission before us. It can still be done, we also have a proposal. It should be evaluated." Oktay, on the other hand, said that he found this suggestion justified and contacted the sub-commissioner's office, and received the response that there would be no work or suggestions at this stage. Çakırözer asked, "Then why is there a subsidiary commission?"
'STABILITY TO THE WHOLE REGION'
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Levent Gümrükçü stated that the agreement represents the extension of the deep-rooted relations between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia. Gümrükçü said, “In addition to being a reflection of special friendly relations, the agreement is a concrete product of the understanding of regional ownership, the need of which is increasingly felt in our region.
As a matter of fact, today, when the problems in the region have become more complicated, the three countries that are parties to the agreement, instead of waiting for an external solution to these problems, have taken responsibility themselves and taken the first step of a regional security architecture based on the understanding of cooperation and collective defense, and laid the legal basis for the institutional structure to be created in this direction.” he said. Noting that the internal approval processes of the agreement have been completed in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Gümrükçü argued that the agreement will contribute to the security of not only the three countries, but also the entire region, and create an environment of permanent predictable stability.
'ARE THERE ANY SIMILAR AGREEMENTS?'
Then the floor was given to the MPs. This time, NEW Party member Çakırözer proposed the establishment of a subcommittee to discuss the proposal in more detail. The proposal was rejected. İYİ Party Muğla Deputy Metin Ergun asked, "Do we have bilateral agreements similar to this agreement with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan?"
Gümrükçü responded, "We have a military framework agreement with Saudi Arabia. There is a military training cooperation agreement with Pakistan. There is a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan regarding the execution of exercises. There are agreements with Pakistan regarding technical training cooperation in the military field within the framework of the implementation protocols of this memorandum. There are agreements between the General Staff regarding exercises." He said that these were mostly military and defense industry dimensions.
'WHY WE SIGNED'
Ergun said, "I could not understand what defense needs Turkey would meet with this agreement." Recalling Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's principle of "Peace at home, peace in the world", Ergun said, "While maintaining our military deterrence, expanding diplomatic areas of action, limiting the risks of conflict with our neighbors and prioritizing inclusive dialogue mechanisms in resolving regional conflicts should be maintained."
Ergun asked the following questions to Deputy Minister Gümrükçü:
"This agreement was signed on August 7. Why was there no satisfactory explanation regarding its content until the last week? According to Article 90 of the Constitution, the approval of international agreements depends on the approval of the Turkish Grand National Assembly by law. The approval process in domestic law must be completed for binding effect. Before the agreement was approved by the Turkish Grand National Assembly, some institutional structures were formed and some meetings were held depending on the provisions of the agreement. The Strategic Political and Defense Committee held two meetings on August 31 and October 5. Again, the secretary general was appointed and the agreement was finalized. without approval.
How will this be explained according to our legal and diplomatic practices? (...) Each country's definition of terrorism is different. Is PKK, which is a terrorist organization for us, considered a terrorist organization by Saudi Arabia? It doesn't count. It is not easy to implement the 'threat clause'. While Türkiye is a member of NATO, what security gap would such an agreement close that Turkey does not have? Which gap of the countries will Türkiye fill? "Are we going to close the international gap in maritime security in parallel with someone's withdrawal?"
