Iraq is to the northwest of the country that has a population of what as of 2016?
Iraq Iraq ( , , or ; Arabic: العراق‎ ‎ "al-‘Irāq "; Kurdish: عێراق‎ "Eraq "), officially known as the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق‎ ‎ " "; Kurdish: کۆماری عێراق‎ "Komari Eraq ") is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest, and Syria to the west. The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds; others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's /1e6 round 0 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish.
Turkish occupation of northern Syria The Turkish occupation of northern Syria, also known as the North Aleppo Border Pocket, the Northern Syria Security Belt, or the Safe Zone (Turkish: "Güvenli Bölge" ), refers to areas of Syria captured and occupied since August 2016 by the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish-backed Turkmen and Arab forces during the Syrian Civil War. Turkish-occupied Syria consists of a 1,620 square kilometer area which encompasses around 217 settlements, including: al-Bab, Azaz, Dabiq and Jarabulus. This territory had previously been controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Syrian opposition, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and the Syrian government.