Yazidis react to Sinjar accord amid growing KRG-PKK tensions in Iraq
A security agreement reached earlier this month between the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Region on the disputed territory of Sinjar has sparked both praise and criticism as tensions rise between the KRG and the PKK.
In the days following the Oct. 9 security agreement between the Baghdad and Erbil governments on the disputed territory of Sinjar, a Yazidi delegation traveled to the Iraqi capital to meet with Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) chief Abu Fadak al-Mohammadawi.
The delegation requested the PMU’s help to ensure that local armed groups close to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) be allowed to continue operating. The Yazidi Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) were trained by the PKK after the Islamic State (IS) occupied their area, and many consider them an affiliate of the group.
The PKK has long been designated an international terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Turkey, and long-simmering tensions have been rising recently between it and the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG).
The agreement, backed by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), aims to put an end to disaccord over security arrangements and a lack of public services, in part by bringing in a unified administration. Many embassies and international organizations have praised it.
