Turkey agrees to gradually hand over military camp to Iraq
Summary
Turkey and Iraq reached an agreement for Turkish forces to gradually turn over a military camp in northern Iraq to the Iraqi government following discussions in New York during the UN General Assembly. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized the need to deepen security cooperation, specifically in the context of establishing state authority in Sinjar and addressing the presence of outlawed armed elements, which primarily refers to Kurdish militants. This handover of the Bashiqa-Zelikan base, which Turkey deployed in 2015 to support local forces against Islamic State, is part of Turkey's ongoing peace process aimed at disarming the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and resolving a long-standing conflict.