Turkey and Iraq agree on gradual handover of Bashiqa-Zilkan base
The leaders also agreed to work toward establishing Iraqi state authority in Sinjar and removing banned foreign armed groups from the region.
New York, United States. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi agreed on Wednesday to a gradual transfer of a Turkish military base in northern Iraq to Baghdad. They also agreed to work toward removing banned armed groups from the Sinjar region.
Talks on Sinjar and the base
The leaders met behind closed doors at the Turkish House building during a series of bilateral talks Erdogan held on the sidelines of this week’s high-level session of the UN General Assembly.
A joint statement said the governments had reached an understanding on establishing full state authority in Sinjar and ending the presence of banned foreign armed elements there. It did not name the groups.
The statement said Turkish forces would gradually hand over the Bashiqa-Zilkan base to the Iraqi federal government. The timeline and mechanism will be agreed separately.
Turkey has maintained a presence at the Bashiqa camp near Mosul since 2015. The deployment has strained relations with Baghdad, which has repeatedly called for Turkish forces to withdraw.
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