Pressure mounts on PKK over Sinjar presence
The United States, Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey and Iraq have all expressed their strong opposition to the presence of the Kurdistan Workers Party in northern Iraq's Sinjar.
ERBIL, Iraq — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the United States recently reiterated their opposition to the continued presence of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Sinjar region.
On Dec. 15, US State Department spokesman John Kirby was asked by a local Kurdish news agency about the US stance on this issue. “We continue to believe that the PKK, which is a US-designated foreign terrorist organization, should have no role in Sinjar, and we regard their presence there as a major obstacle to a reconciliation and to the return of internally displaced people,” Kirby said.
He added, “We urge all groups, including the KRG, to facilitate political reconciliation so that these internally displaced people can return and the traumatized communities in that region can rebuild."
At a conference in the city of Dahuk on Dec. 15, Iraqi Kurdistan's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said, “One of the main reasons that has deterred the rebuilding of Sinjar is the PKK, and that is a fact.”
