Shafaq News- Nineveh

Turkish forces have begun a partial withdrawal from the Zilkan camp in northern Iraq, while Nineveh police have started taking over security across the province under a government order, Mohammed Al-Kakaei, head of the Nineveh Provincial Council's security committee, told Shafaq News on Tuesday.

Turkish troops and vehicles have left the camp, Al-Kakaei said, adding that their mission there had ended as the threat from ISIS and groups Ankara regards as a danger to its national security had receded.

The checkpoints department of the Nineveh Police Command has formally begun taking over the province's entry points, starting with the center of Mosul, along with checkpoints in its districts and subdistricts, according to Al-Kakaei. The plan aims to remove military forces from cities and redeploy army units outside residential areas, leaving local police responsible for internal security in coordination with intelligence agencies.

Turkiye and Iraq agreed in September that Turkish forces would gradually hand over the Bashiqa-Zilkan base, near Mosul, in return for Baghdad extending full state authority over Sinjar. Turkiye's Defense Ministry said progress on security in Sinjar had allowed arrangements for the handover to move ahead.

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said earlier that Turkiye would keep its forces in Iraq until border security is ensured, while Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has linked any gradual drawdown to Baghdad's plan to disarm armed groups, chiefly the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its affiliates in Sinjar.

Read more: Baghdad, Ankara agree on Bashiqa–Zilkan Camp transfer