Turkey and Iran reiterate cooperation to end PKK presence in Sinjar region

Türkiye and Iraq issued a joint statement on the 8th, reaffirming their continued cooperation to promote the establishment of central government authority in the Sinjar area of ​​Nineveh Province in northern Iraq and to end the presence of the PKK there.

According to a statement issued by the Press Office of the Turkish Presidential Palace, Türkiye will gradually take steps to hand over its Bashiqa military base in Nineveh Province to the Iraqi government.

The statement said that the two countries decided to launch a joint security coordination committee to jointly verify and supervise the relevant processes to end the presence of the PKK in the Sinjar region.

The leaders of the two countries met in New York, the United States, on September 23 and agreed to deepen cooperation in the security field and Türkiye to gradually hand over the Bashka base.

The PKK was founded in 1979 and seeks to establish an independent state through force in the Kurdish-inhabited areas on Turkey's borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria. It is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey. Over the past 40 years, the organization has been involved in multiple rounds of conflict with Türkiye, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths.

PKK leader Ocalan was arrested by the Turkish government in 1999. In July 2025, Öcalan announced that he would give up the goal of establishing an independent country and implement the disarmament process as soon as possible. In August this year, Turkey passed a bill to establish a legal framework for the disarmament of the PKK and the reintegration of its members into society, marking important progress in the Turkish government's push to end the conflict that has lasted for decades.