Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia Form Anti-American Alliance-What It Means for Armenia
One of the greater geopolitical news out of the Middle East is that Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia have signed the Mecca Joint Deterrence Agreement. It's a defense pact, and what's notable is that Azerbaijan might join.
The signing of the Mecca Joint Deterrence Agreement marks a significant fracture in the post-2001 U.S.-dominated Middle East security architecture. Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia-collectively representing 350 to 450 million people and the Islamic world’s top three economic powers-have pledged mutual defense in response to perceived U.S. policy failures and the limits of American deterrence. Rather than rally around Israel or join the Abraham Accords framework, these Sunni powers have formed their own Islamic-centric alliance, signaling a deliberate pivot away from Israeli-American hegemony in the region.
For Armenia, this development carries urgent implications. Hovik raises the possibility that Azerbaijan might join this pact, which would add Pakistan (a nuclear power with military interests in Central Asia) and Saudi Arabia to Turkey’s existing security commitments via the Shushi Accords. Such an expansion would dramatically elevate the military and diplomatic pressure on Armenia and further isolate it regionally. Asbed notes that Turkey and Azerbaijan already possess a binding defense agreement, so the practical threat may be incremental-but the symbolic and strategic weight of a nuclear-backed alliance cannot be ignored.
Most troubling is the apparent indifference of Armenia’s government to this realignment. While Pashinyan engages in frivolous lawsuits against the Catholicos and dithers over EU membership, the geopolitical ground is shifting beneath Armenia’s feet. Neither host sees evidence that Armenia’s National Security Council has seriously grappled with how a Pakistan-backed Azerbaijan might alter deterrence calculus or military balance. This inattention to grand strategy-while simultaneously pursuing confrontational domestic policies that alienate potential allies-illustrates the regime’s strategic bankruptcy and its prioritization of regime consolidation over national survival.
Transcript
Asbed Bedrossian: It's not going to be made over 30 years. It's going to be made at some point in the next few years, let's say, because the current nuclear power plant is extended until 2036. It takes five to six to seven years to build one of these things. So you have a couple of years to make that decision to make your deadlines.
Hovik Manucharyan: Actually, to 2031, not 2036. Is that true?
Asbed Bedrossian: I thought that the lifespan has been extended to 2036.