MESOP : THE PKK (PYD) AS AN OCCUPATION FORCE IN SHINGAL / SOUTH KURDISTAN

31 Oct 2015 – ERBIL-Hewler, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— The conflict that has been smoldering for months between the Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Kurdistan Workers´ Party (PKK) over the disputed Kurdish Yazidi region of Shingal (Sinjar) in northwest Iraq is becoming increasingly severe. After high-ranking KDP generals of the pro-KDP Peshmerga forces announced that the Peshmerga will not include other forces in the offensive to liberate the southern Shingal region, KDP officials have gone the extra mile.

Sheikh Shamo, a Yazidi KDP politician and member of the Kurdistan parliament in Erbil, said in a statement published on Thursday that Shingal belonged to the KDP, calling the PKK an occupation force. They would not accept “the plan of the PKK”, adding that the PKK and the PYD, the political wing of the YPG in Syrian Kurdistan, were not in Shingal to liberate the region but to occupy it. Alone the KDP and Barzani would be those defending Yazidis and Shingal. “Where have they (YPG and PKK) been for a year?”, “why haven’t they liberated Shingal up to now?”, asked Shamo without answering himself the question of where the Peshmerga and the KDP had been.

For the KDP, however, the PKK´s intervention and presence of its fighters in Shingal constitute an interference in internal affairs. The party fears for its influence and is making every effort now to oust the PKK from the region as far as possible. Disputes already erupted a few days ago when KDP Peshmerga blocked the PKK´s and YPG´s primary route to northern Syria. Above all, there are fears of a proxy war that will be fought by Yazidi fighters from the respective parties. Yazidi politicians should therefore contribute to a deescalation and tone down statements. www.mesop.de