Turkiye to end occupation of north Iraq base as security ties deepen
The Turkish army occupied the base near the town of Bashiqa in 2016 under the pretext of fighting ISIS in Mosul
Ankara and Baghdad signed a military cooperation accord this week, which will see the Turkish military turn over a base in the northern Iraqi town of Bashiqa to the Iraqi army, Al-Monitor reported on 19 August.
Branded as “historic” by both sides, the memorandum of understanding on military, security, and counterterrorism cooperation was signed on Thursday amid Turkiye’s ongoing military operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
The agreement was reached after two days of high-level talks between Turkish and Iraqi foreign defense ministers, as well as intelligence chiefs, in Ankara, Al-Monitoradded.
In addition to turning over the Turkish military base in Bashiqa to the Iraqi government, the agreement calls for Baghdad and Ankara to build a joint military coordination center, which will be based in Iraq.
The Turkish base in Bashiqa, an oil-rich region populated by members of the Yezidi religious minority as well as Arabs and Kurds, has long been unwelcome by locals, the Iraqi government, and unknown armed groups who have periodically targeted the base with missiles in previous years.
In 2021, Iraq formally called on the UN to convene an urgent meeting of the Security Council to discuss the Turkish military presence in Bashiqa.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Jamal said Baghdad had called on the UN Security Council to “shoulder its responsibilities vis-à-vis Iraq and issue a resolution that would halt violations of Iraq’s sovereignty by Turkish forces.”
Subsequent missile attacks on the base, thought to come from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), prompted the residents of the area to insist that Turkiye evacuate the base.
In March 2022, Ghazwan Hamid, a former member of Ninewa Provincial Council, toldKirkuk Now, “The presence of a Turkish military base in the area is nothing but a source of headache for the residents and security forces in the area, and its harms outweigh its benefits. The Iraqi government and parliament are to take a decision regarding the presence of this base.”
“[Turkish troops] came to that area during the Daesh [ISIS] war, the war ended, and the region is stable in terms of security, so there is no need for the presence of this base,” Ghazwan continued. “Most of the council’s members, before its dissolution, believed that Turkey wanted to extend its influence in the region through that military base.”
While claiming to support the battle against ISIS in Mosul, Turkiye was a strong supporter of the terror group during its rise in Syria in 2013 and returned to Iraq in 2014 to conquer the cities of Falluja, Mosul, Ramadi, and Sinjar.
Columbia University’s Program on Peace-building extensively documented Turkish support for ISIS, including through the provision of military equipment, medical care, and satellite imagery, oil purchased oil from the group, and by allowing ISIS fighters to freely cross the Turkish–Syrian border, including during the ISIS assault on Kobani.