As Massoud Barzani, the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, continues to resist mounting international calls to scrap a referendum on Kurdish independence planned for September, a rival Kurdish faction has added its voice, declaring what it calls “democratic autonomy” in the predominantly Yazidi region of Sinjar. The Sinjar Democratic Autonomous Administrative Council made the announcement on Sunday, saying it wants “free and democratic life for all Yazidis.”

Sinjar is among the so-called disputed territories that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central government in Baghdad both claim as their own. The KRG says the referendum will be conducted in all the disputed territories, including Sinjar. 

Bordering Syria, Sinjar remains the scene of a turf war between the Barzani-led Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), backed by Turkey, and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is fighting for Kurdish autonomy inside Turkey and is also vying for influence in Iraq, Iran and Syria. The PKK-backed administration council says it will not allow the referendum to be conducted in areas under its control, including Khanasor, a strategic crossing point for PKK militants heading to Syria.

Bilal Wahab, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Al Monitor, “If they decide to, the PKK can block positioning referendum ballot boxes in Sinjar in towns and neighborhoods, they control.” This, he said, would leave the Yazidis caught in the middle of the political rivalry between the PKK and the KDP.