ISTANBUL, Ankara —  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he hoped more countries would join a defense agreement signed last week between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that they say is aimed at stabilizing a region wracked by conflict.

The so-called Mecca Joint Defense Agreement was signed on Friday as the Middle East grapples with fallout from the ongoing US-Iran war, which has dragged in regional players and disrupted shipping through the key energy pathways of the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

“Our vision for it is not limited to the three countries,” the Turkish leader told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat daily. “Rather, we aspire for it to grow, and perhaps appropriate conditions will emerge one day for all countries of the region to gather under its umbrella, he added.

He likely did not mean to include Israel in his reference to the region. Turkish-Israel relations, once close, collapsed after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and subsequent war in Gaza. Erdogan frequently compares Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, and has consistently offered diplomatic support for Hamas.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday said Turkey expected Egypt to join the pact “in the next stage,” telling the Anadolu state news agency only “a few technical issues” stood in the way.

Egypt has not commented on........

© The Times of Israel