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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.
A member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) carries an automatic rifle on a road in the Qandil Mountains, the PKK headquarters in northern Iraq, on June 22, 2018. - Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds marched Friday to protest Turkish strikes against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would press an operation against its bases. (Photo by SAFIN HAMED / AFP)        (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

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.

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