Turkey decides to gradually hand over Bashiqa base to Iraq
Turkey's Defense Ministry announced its decision to gradually hand over the Bashiqa-Zilkan base near Mosul to Iraq, according to an agreed timetable, in light of Iraqi security progress in the Sinjar region, following a meeting between the Iraqi Prime Minister and the Turkish President in New York.
Turkey's Defense Ministry announced on Thursday its decision to gradually hand over the Bashiqa-Zilkan base, located near the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, to Iraqi authorities, according to the mechanism and timetable agreed upon between the two countries. The ministry said the decision to hand over the base comes in light of the progress made by the Iraqi government in implementing security measures in the Sinjar region. The decision follows a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York, where the two sides agreed to enhance security cooperation and extend Iraqi state control over Sinjar. According to what was reported by Reuters, citing an Iraqi military commander, the gradual withdrawal of Turkish forces from the Bashiqa base and another small base near Mosul is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Turkey had deployed forces near Mosul in 2015, saying at the time that its presence aimed to train and protect Iraqi forces and local fighters who were preparing to fight the Islamic State group, which had controlled the city since 2014. The handover of the base coincides with the Iraqi government's affirmation of working to monopolize weapons in the hands of the state and disarm non-Iraqi armed groups operating on Iraqi soil, according to a roadmap with timelines.