Talks between Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan are at an advanced stage and a deal is highly likely.
New Delhi: Last September, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a military agreement. Now, according to recent reports, Turkey is also trying to join this alliance between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. A Bloomberg report claims that talks for Turkey to join the Saudi-Pakistan alliance are at an “advanced” stage. If this happens, it could create a new military bloc in the Middle East amidst rising tensions in the Gulf and with Iran.
A deal is highly likely
Bloomberg reported on Friday, January 9, that talks between Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan are at an “advanced stage.” It said that “a deal is highly likely.” If we assume that Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan do indeed form a military alliance under which an attack on one country would be considered an attack on the others, then the question arises whether this alliance will pose a challenge to India? At least Pakistan will project it that way. But geopolitical experts believe that this alliance will not prove to be a danger to India.
What will Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia alliance look like?
In the world of geopolitics, many are calling this alliance an “Islamic NATO.” They are also calling it a major geopolitical shift. It is being said that this alliance forms a “triangle of power” that covers all aspects of modern warfare. This is because Saudi Arabia has lots of money, which can fund this alliance, Pakistan has nuclear weapons, while Turkey has the capacity to manufacture state-of-the-art weapons with NATO technology. It manufactures drones, ships, and missiles. Saudi Arabia could buy next-generation Turkish weapons like TB2/Akinci drones and stealth corvettes for Pakistan, which could be deployed on the borders and used against India.
What are Turkey’s interests?
In reality, Turkey is desperately trying to join the Saudi-Pakistan defense pact because it fears being encircled by the newly forming Greece-Cyprus-Israel axis. Turkey knows what Israel is capable of. Saudi Arabia, also fearing a potential Israeli attack, has sought refuge under Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella, and Turkey wants to do the same. It wants to leverage Saudi Arabia’s financial power and Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities. The question is whether Saudi Arabia wants to create a trilateral defense pact that, from Turkey’s perspective, would be against Israel.
Sunni versus Shia?
According to a senior research fellow at the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), “the Saudi and Turkish haste to ally with Pakistan has nothing to do with Israel or India.” He said that “this alliance is being forged in the hope of the collapse of Islamic Iran and the rise of a stronger, more assertive Iran. This emerging anti-Iran alliance is Sunni versus Shia.”
