ISTANBUL (Dispatches) -- Several Turkish political parties have condemned the so-called “Mecca Defense Alliance” among Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey, warning the pact exploits Muslim sentiment to support Saudi aggression against Yemen and serves U.S. and Israeli interests.
Addressing his party’s parliamentary group Thursday, İYİ Party leader Musavat Dervisoglu questioned why Turkey is being drawn into a military commitment whose “borders, threat and ultimate cost are all unclear.”
“Whose enemy is Turkey declaring as its own enemy?” he said. “Who is this alliance against? Israel? Iran? The U.S.? Or another country? What and who is the common threat?”
Dervisoglu warned the agreement endangers Turkish soldiers for other countries’ agendas. “Will Mehmetçik pay the price for other states’ political choices?” he asked, using a term for Turkish soldiers.
He criticized Ankara for allowing Riyadh to shape Turkish foreign policy priorities, noting the agreement’s name—”Mecca,” Islam’s holiest site—was chosen deliberately to appeal to religious sentiment. 
He called on Turks not to “fall into the trap of the U.S.-Israel alliance that has descended upon the Middle East.”
“The issue is not Mecca. Therefore, let us not take steps with the mindset of the polytheists,” he said, stressing Turkey should not serve the “insatiable appetite of American and Israeli oil companies” while pretending to defy Washington and Tel Aviv.
“Mehmetcik is not the protector of Aramco,” he added, referring to the common Turkish soldier and the Saudi oil giant.
Ahmet Ozbay, head of the Vatan Party’s Antalya branch, said the joint statement bears hallmarks of U.S.-Israeli interference and urged the government to quit the pact, which he said places the Turkish army under foreign hegemony.
Samra Dincer, deputy head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the “Mecca Agreement” was signed without its terms disclosed and has yet to be presented to parliament. 
She stressed she would not support any agreement jeopardizing Turkey’s interests and security.
The agreement was signed in August by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It stipulates that an armed attack against any signatory would be considered an attack against all three.
The pact comes as the region witnesses two major wars: Saudi Arabia’s campaign in Yemen and the U.S.-Israeli imposed war on Iran.  
Tensions between Riyadh and Sana’a have heightened since July. Yemeni forces have consolidated positions along the Western coast, announced naval operations targeting Saudi-linked ships in the Red Sea, and carried out retaliatory attacks deep inside the kingdom.