Members of the Shingal Protections Units (YBS), an armed group affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party(PKK). Photo: Rudaw.
Khanasoor, Kurdistan Region--The commander of the the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Shingal Region said that the era of Kurdish infighting is over as he commented on recent remarks made by Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani that his government is considering using military force to expel the PKK.
Agid Civian reassured the Kurdish people, in particular in Shingal, that the time for a civil war between the Kurdish parties has passed.
"Thousands of people and Peshmerga fighters have asked us about our position since these remarks were made," Civian told Rudaw on Wednesday in his military base in the Kurdish Yezidi town of Shingal. "They ask whether it is possible for an internal conflict to happen among the Kurds. Everybody should know that the era of civil war is over. The era for a civil war among Kurdistan organizations is over."
Civian, whose forces guard several checkpoints in Shingal, insisted that the PKK forces will remain there because their mission has not been accomplished yet.
The Shingal Protections Units (YBS), also affiliated with the PKK in Shingal, say that they are present in the area to protect the Yezidi minority from ISIS militants. They say they are currently protecting 39 square kilometers in Shingal.
"It was [a demand] from our people that necessitated our creation, to protect our Yezidi people," Haval Mazlum, general commander of the YBS told Rudaw. "[T]he YBS has played a main role [against ISIS] from the beginning of the massacre until now, and will remain so until the full liberation of Mount Shingal and all of its villages."
ISIS captured Shingal on August 3, 2014, committing genocide against the Yezidi population. The town was liberated in November 2015 by a coalition of Kurdish forces, including KRG Peshmerga and PKK fighters. The PKK has maintained a presence in the area, refusing calls from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to leave.
There is an 8,500-strong Peshmerga force stationed in Shingal under the command of Qasim Shasho, a Yezidi commander who takes orders from the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Shasho told Rudaw that they have not yet considered using military force against the PKK fighters. He said, however, that the PKK's "foreign" fighters should leave Shingal because they are not needed.
"Let the foreigners leave, despite our utmost respect to the Syrian [Kurds] or the Turkish [Kurds], let them leave the area, then we will protect our own people."
Shasho said it is true that the Peshmerga and the PKK fighters share a common language and the Greater Kurdistan, but warned that they do not share the administration of the area with fighters from other parts of Kurdistan.
Kurdistan Region leaders have recently stepped up pressure on the PKK to leave the Shingal region, saying that rehabilitation of the town is not possible as long as the PKK remains.
The people of Shingal are hesitant about their future as long as the PKK is present in the area, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said at a conference in December. As long as the PKK is there, the people of Shingal “do not reconstruct the town. The PKK should understand that and, for the good of the people, they have to leave the region.”
When later asked in an interview with American Zaman published in Al-Monitor if he is considering using military force to expel the PKK, Barzani replied, “Yes, I am.”
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