MESOP : KDP’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR SINJAR
Why Does KDP Want to Free Sinjar Alone? – KDP Official: KDP felt responsible for the fall of Sinjar and wanted to free the town alone
Basnews | Hemin Salih – ERBIL – 23 Dec 2014 – BasNew understands that the Kurdish ruling party, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is aiming to free Sinjar alone, for two main reasons. From the start of the military operation to free Sinjar, the KDP has shown that it has its own specific plan to recapture the town. However, after the Peshmerga advanced into the town, both the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and People’s Protection Units (YPG) attempted through their media to claim ownership of the liberation of Sinjar.
A reliable source has told BasNews that from the beginning of the operation, the KDP wanted to take charge of the attack alone and used only Peshmerga loyal to the party. “This relates to two main reasons. First, before Islamic State (IS) militants attacked Sinjar, 90% of the people in the town voted for the KDP. The KDP wanted to prove its existence to its supporters in the area. Secondly, the KDP wanted to end speculation that they surrendered the town to IS and were not ready to fight against the militants to protect the town. KDP Peshmerga commanders have been blamed for the fall of the town,” said the source. Member of the KDP Leadership Council Ali Awni told BasNews that they are sure that Peshmerga forces will free Sinjar because Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani pledged to do so.
“As always, many people try to take the plaudits for success, whilst failures are something everyone avoids taking responsibility for. When Sinjar fell, other parties pointed the finger at the KDP and avoided implicating themselves in the failure,” said Awni. He continued, “However, the PUK had its own forces there and they used to pay the salary of 2,000 party militants in addition to the joint force with KDP. Other Kurdish parties also had their own offices in the town, but in spite all of that they were holding the KDP as the only party responsible for the fall of the town. It was KDP who took the responsibility of the failure .”
Awni said that even though all Kurds are responsible for freeing Sinjar not just KDP, perhaps success is more important for KDP rather than for other parties as 90% of Sinjaris are KDP supporters. “The KDP believes that it is the owner of all Kurdistan from Khanaqin to Sinjar. When the Dijla military operation of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki entered Kirkuk province, it was the KDP, Barzani and the son of Barzani who immediately went to stop the force entering Kirkuk. Therefore, the KDP takes responsibility for the failures of the Kurdistan people as well as successes,” he added.
“In fact, only Peshmerga forces have participated in the operation of freeing Sinjar, no other forces at all. However, most of those Peshmerga forces were loyal to the KDP, and we are proud of that. It is the duty of the KDP to free that part of Kurdistan,” said Awni. He also noted that KDP officials are ready on almost all frontlines and none of them participate in partisan actions but rather protect the land of Kurdistan. On the other hand, PUK member and journalist Arif Qurbani believes that the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga Ministry has not behaved fairly in the fight against IS insurgents because Kurdish political parties have celebrated success alone rather than together. “Many Kurdish political parties believe they are solely responsible for success, but in fighting IS from Jalawla to Kobani, none of them took responsibility for failures,” said Qurbani. “If the parties admitted their failures, we could all celebrate the successes together, but unfortunately the nature of Kurdish parties is that nobody holds themselves accountable for the failures, and everyone for successes,” he added. Qurbani mentioned that Peshmerga successes in Sinjar are extremely important in terms of geography and politics, but only if Kurdish parties ignore the fight of political parties’ flags in the area.