Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Egypt could join the Mecca Joint Defense Pact signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. In a special interview for Al Jazeera Arabic’s Al Muqabala program, Erdogan said the agreement would remain open to additional member states and that Egyptian participation was possible.

Erdogan said the pact commits its signatories to take collective action if any member country is attacked. He, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the agreement in the holy city of Mecca last Friday. Under its terms, an armed attack on any of the three countries would be treated as an attack on all three.

Many analysts have compared that provision with NATO’s Article 5. Pakistani officials, however, cautioned against describing the agreement as equivalent to NATO or as directed at any single country. Erdogan said the pact had sent an important message to the world and argued that it could expand further through the participation of Egypt, which he described as an important country.