Türkiye to Hand Over Zilkan Base to Iraq in Phased Process
Türkiye's Defense Ministry said it will gradually hand the Zilkan military base in Bashiqa to the Iraqi government, citing Baghdad's security progress in Shingal.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Türkiye's Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday, that it has decided to gradually hand over the Zilkan military base in Bashiqa to the Iraqi government, closing a chapter that has strained relations between Ankara and Baghdad for years.
In a statement, the ministry said the handover will proceed in stages under a mechanism the two countries had previously agreed on. It did not set out a timetable in the information provided.
The ministry attributed the decision to progress the Iraqi government has achieved in implementing security measures in the district of Shingal (Sinjar).
The Zilkan base lies in the Bashiqa subdistrict of Nineveh province, where Turkish forces have been stationed since 2015. The base was originally established to train Iraqi forces for the fight against ISIS. It later became a point of contention between Ankara and Baghdad, and Iraq repeatedly demanded the withdrawal of Turkish forces from it.
In late September 2026, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi agreed on several security issues.
Under that agreement, Türkiye consented to hand over the Zilkan base to the Iraqi government step by step. In return, Iraq is to restore state authority in Shingal and end the presence of foreign armed groups in the area.