Turkey Likens New Pact With Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to NATO Article 5

Turkey's foreign minister said a defense agreement signed on Friday with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan carries mutual-defense commitments equivalent to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, under which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. The characterization, reported by ZeroHedge, elevates what had been described as a cooperation framework into a collective security arrangement spanning three states across the Middle East and South Asia. World leaders have been responding to the signing since Friday. The agreement links a NATO member, the Gulf's largest economy and a nuclear-armed South Asian state. Details of the pact's scope, triggers and any basing or procurement provisions have not been published.