Turkey to gradually hand over Bashiqa military base in northern Iraq to Baghdad

Turkey and Iraq have announced a gradual handover of the Bashiqa-Zilkan military base in northern Iraq to the federal government in Baghdad. The move was set out in a joint statement on Wednesday and is intended to strengthen Iraqi state authority while easing a long-running source of tension between the two neighbours. The announcement came after a meeting in New York between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Sponsored

According to the statement, Turkish forces will transfer control of the base "in accordance with the agreed mechanism and timetable". The handover follows what the two sides described as progress in security measures implemented by Iraq. The US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria and Iraq, Tom Barrack, welcomed the agreement and said it reflected both Iraqi sovereignty and Turkish security interests.

The Bashiqa base has been a sensitive issue since Turkey established it in December 2015 with the agreement of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkish press reports have said Ankara deployed up to 600 soldiers there. Baghdad has repeatedly accused Ankara of violating Iraqi sovereignty, making the base a persistent point of friction in bilateral relations.

The latest announcement also included a separate commitment by Ankara and Baghdad to fully restore state authority in Sinjar and remove the presence of illegal foreign armed elements. The agreement matters because it touches on one of the most contested questions in Iraq's post-war security landscape: who controls armed presence on Iraqi territory. It also comes at a time when Baghdad has been seeking to reassert federal authority in areas where local, regional and foreign armed actors have all played a role.

Sponsored

For Turkey, the arrangement offers a way to preserve security concerns while reducing a dispute that has complicated ties with Baghdad for years. Sinjar remains relevant to the wider picture because Turkey has carried out military operations there in the past against fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The PKK announced its dissolution in May 2025 and later held a symbolic disarmament ceremony in northern Iraq in July 2025, although Turkish authorities say some fighters remain.

Baghdad also said in early September that Sinjar would come under the full authority of the federal government and its security and administrative institutions after an agreement with Yazidi armed groups to hand over weapons to the state. What remains unclear is the exact timetable for the Bashiqa handover and how quickly control will shift on the ground. It is also not yet clear how the arrangement will be implemented alongside the separate Sinjar commitments.

The next developments to watch are whether both governments follow through on the agreed mechanism and whether the move reduces tensions over foreign military presence in northern Iraq.

#Turkey #Iraq #BashiqaZilkanbase #Baghdad #sovereignty

Sponsored