Türkiye and Iraq Agree to Hand Over Bashiqa Base

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi agreed on Wednesday to the gradual handover of the Bashiqa-Zilkan military base in northern Iraq to the Federal Government of Iraq. The agreement was reached during a closed-door meeting at the Turkish House in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Bashiqa base, established in 2015 to train forces fighting ISIL, has been a source of tension for years, with Baghdad viewing the presence of up to 600 Turkish soldiers as a violation of its sovereignty. Under the new agreement, Turkish forces will transfer the base according to a mutually agreed mechanism and timetable.

Beyond the military handover, the two leaders committed to restoring full Iraqi state authority in the Sinjar region to eliminate the presence of outlawed foreign armed elements, specifically the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which was dissolved in May 2025 and disarmed in July 2025.

The nations also agreed to deepen economic ties by expanding bilateral trade and investment. A primary focus of this cooperation is the acceleration of the Development Road project, a strategic transport corridor designed to connect Iraq's Gulf coast to Türkiye and European markets.