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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.

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Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters leave a PKK mausoleum in the Sinjar region, northern Iraq, May 1, 2016. — REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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.

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