Turkiye has agreed to gradually withdraw forces from a strategic military base in northern Iraq and hand over its control to the Iraqi government, following a meeting between the two countries’ leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
The Iraqi government announced earlier this month that the Sinjar Resistance Units, a Yazidi militia affiliated with the PKK, had agreed to disarm and eligible fighters would be integrated into the Iraqi security forces. Because of its PKK affiliation, the group played a significant role in the fight against IS, but was seen by Turkiye as a threat.
Iraq, meanwhile, pledged to remove armed groups that Turkiye considers security threats from the region of Sinjar, in northwestern Iraq, according to a joint statement issued after the meeting late Wednesday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.
Erdogan and Mr. al-Zaidi’s offices.
“In light of the progress Iraq has achieved through security measures, Turkish forces will gradually hand over the Bashiqa-Zelikan camp to the Iraqi federal government, in accordance with the agreed-upon mechanism and timeline,” according to the joint statement released by Mr. Turkiye and Iraq also agreed to “fully extend the authority of the Iraqi state in Sinjar and to end the presence of banned foreign armed elements,” the statement read.
