The Mecca Agreement is unlikely to create another Nato but it can’t easily be dismissed either
I’m not that hopeful, however. The problem with middle powers is they all want to be great powers. Pakistan’s self-image, as the only Muslim-majority nuclear power, is elevated enough. Both Saudi and Türkiye, meanwhile, have long assumed that they alone deserve to lead the Sunni world. The House of Saud believes that its role in Mecca and Medina gives it certain privileges, but Istanbul remembers the four centuries when it was the seat of the caliphate.
