ERBIL — Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has armed and transferred more than 250 youth from the Kurdish Yezidi dominated Sinjar town to their bases in Qandil Mountains and due to PKK’s acts, Sinjar people no longer trust the party, according to Sinjar officials.
Speaking to BasNews on Tuesday, Sinjar Asayish (security) Director Qasim Simo, said that some of the 250 young boys and girls whom PKK has moved to Qandil are those children who fled the Islamic State (IS) organization and sought refuge in the PKK- held areas in Syria.
Simo added that PKK does not allow for these children to return to their families, rather it arms them and moves them to Qandil without informing their families and obtaining their consent. He urged the PKK guerrillas to “show respect” to people of Sinjar and Yezidis’ Spiritual Council by withdrawing from the town and its surrounding areas.
The debate between Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and PKK over Sinjar has been going on for months as PKK refuses to withdraw from the areas which are already safeguarded by KRG’s Peshmerga forces.
“People of Sinjar have lost their trust in PKK” said Khidir Ilyas who represents Yezidi people in Nineveh Provincial Council, adding that the teenagers and young people who joined PKK are now abandoning PKK to join Peshmerga forces on a daily basis.
Ilyas accused PKK of “occupying the biggest Yezidi compound in Sinjar, indicating that there are 37,000 Yezidis from Khanasor [Sinjar vicinity] who fear to return to their homes due to the chaos and turmoil created by PKK”.
Qasim Darbo, Peshmerga operations chief in Sinjar, explained that more than 20 organizations have visited Sinjar to offer assistance in resettling the IDPs but “because of the PKK they all withdrew, except for Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF).”