PKK presence in Iraq's Sinjar poses threat to Ezidis

By Idris Okuducu

ERBIL, Iraq

Calls for the PKK terrorist group to leave northern Iraq’s Sinjar Mountain region have not been complied with, an Ezidi official said Wednesday, stressing that the PKK remained a threat to the local Ezidi community.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Sheikh Semo, an Ezidi member of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG)’s parliament, said the Ezidi community had repeatedly called on the PKK to withdraw from Sinjar with a view to preempting further conflict in the region.

Noting that the PKK had so far ignored these calls, Semo asserted that the terrorist group was using the area’s civilian residents as “human shields”.

"PKK militants hide among civilians, putting the lives of Ezidis at stake," he said. “They intentionally set up their camps near civilian areas.”

Since 2014, the PKK has maintained a presence in Sinjar on the pretext that it is fighting the Daesh terrorist group.

Turkish airstrikes

In a statement carried by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KPD)’s official website, Vian Dakhil, an Ezidi member of the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad, commented on Turkish airstrikes that targeted PKK positions in Sinjar on Tuesday.

"The people of Sinjar understand that the PKK presence in the region will only result in more harm to civilians," she said.

"The latest developments [Tuesday’s airstrikes] in the Sinjar Mountain region has once again shown the PKK’s true face," she added. "The PKK has its own agenda; it doesn’t care if it puts Ezidis in harm’s way.”

Also quoted on the KPD's website, Sinjar District Governor Mahma Khalil pointed out that both the KRG and Ezidi leaders had called for the PKK’s withdrawal from the region in advance of Tuesday’s airstrikes.

"Developments in Sinjar are the result of negligence on the part of Iraq’s central government, international coalition forces and the U.S.,” he said.

"We have repeatedly asked all three to pressure the PKK to leave Sinjar," he added.

Officials in Sinjar plan to raise the issue with Baghdad and the U.S.-led coalition, Khalil said, going on to warn that Turkish military activity in the region could be stepped up if the PKK were to remain in the area.

Troublemaker

According to Kasim Murad, an Ezidi resident of the Sinjar Mountain region, the PKK presence in the area remains a perpetual source of danger.

"The PKK has become the troublemaker of Sinjar,” he said. “We knew they would only bring harm in their wake.”

"People of the region can’t return to their homes because they fear their children will be abducted and taken to Qandil Mountain,” Murad added, referring to the PKK's headquarters in northern Iraq.

According to a Tuesday statement issued by the Turkish General Staff, some 40 terrorists in the Sinjar Mountain region -- and 30 others in Syria's northeastern Karacok Mountain region -- were “neutralized” as a result of Turkish military action.

Ezidis are a religious group concentrated largely near the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Sinjar Mountain region. Smaller Ezidi communities can also be found in Turkey, Syria, Iran, Georgia and Armenia.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara