Shafaq News- Ankara

Turkiye will keep its forces in Iraq and Syria until the security of its borders with both countries is fully guaranteed, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said on Tuesday.

"We are maintaining our military presence in Iraq and Syria," Guler told Agence France-Presse in written answers to questions. "When we assess that the necessary conditions have been met in terms of regional and border security, the status of our base areas and our presence in the region will be reconsidered."

Guler declined to give troop numbers, saying deployments depend on threats, border security and conditions on the ground. Between 800 and 1,000 Turkish troops are stationed in Iraq, an Iraqi security source told AFP.

Lasting success, Guler said, requires the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to carry out its decision to dissolve, and Ankara is following the next stages of the process. Turkiye is also monitoring Iraq's efforts to disarm armed groups and bring them under state control, he said, welcoming progress in Sinjar, and plans to expand military and security cooperation with Baghdad.

Less than a month ago, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan tied any gradual reduction of Turkiye's military presence in Iraq to Baghdad's plan to disarm armed groups, chief among them the PKK and groups linked to it in Sinjar. Ankara would take steps in that direction once the group's presence in the area ends, Fidan said at a news conference in New York.

Turkiye has maintained military positions in northern Iraq for years as part of its campaign against the PKK. On September 23, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed that Turkish forces would gradually hand over the Bashiqa-Zilkan camp near Mosul to Iraq's federal government under an agreed mechanism and timetable. The agreement applied specifically to Bashiqa-Zilkan and did not amount to a broader withdrawal of Turkish forces from Iraq.

On October 8, the PKK said all its remaining fighters had left Turkiye and that it had evacuated four positions in Iraq's Metina area. Turkish security sources later confirmed the evacuation of the four sites.