Baghdad

Iraq and the United States have agreed on a phased pullout of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition but have yet to sign a final agreement, the Iraqi defense minister said Sunday.

The United States has some 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against the ISIL group.

The Iraqi Turkmen Front has that its members in Iraq's Kirkuk province will continue to protest by not attending provincial council sessions, as they did during the previous governorate elections.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has pledged not to allow terrorism to become a major threat for Türkiye again.

"We will not allow the terror threat that we broke its back to be revived again," Erdoğan said during an event in the eastern city of Bitlis on Aug. 25.

The transport ministers of Türkiye, Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will gather in Istanbul on Aug. 29 to discuss the Development Road project aimed at connecting Iraq's Grand Faw Port to Türkiye's southern border.

The initiative is seen as a potential alternative trade route to the Suez Canal.

Türkiye and Iraq will appoint a general each to a new security center planned for Baghdad, defense sources told local media on Aug. 22.

The announcement follows a landmark agreement signed last week aimed at bolstering military and security cooperation between the neighbors.

Türkiye and Iraq have signed a landmark agreement on military and security issues, which includes establishing two military centers

— one in Baghdad and the other in Bashika — to enhance coordination in the fight against PKK terrorism in Iraqi territory.

Senior government and military officials from Türkiye and Iraq had detailed talks to further improve security cooperation and eliminate the terrorist threat from the latter's territories.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein chaired the meetings with the attendance of defense ministers and intelligence chiefs from both sides.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has called for the eradication of the PKK from Syria and Iraq.

"We need to fight [against the PKK], take the oil and energy resources from its hands and give them back to the Syrian people," Fidan said during an interview with Sky News Arabia on July 24.

Greek construction group Avax announced on Tuesday the signing of a contract with the Mass Group Holding (MGH) concerning the study, construction and operation of an open-cycle energy production unit in Iraq with a capacity of 282 megawatts, for a total budget of $82 million.

Iraqi border security forces have begun duty in the country's Zakho region as Baghdad established two new military bases in the area threatened by the PKK for the first time in 33 years.