Peshmerga say PKK leaders in Qandil could have stopped Sinjar clashes

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Peshmerga commanders stated they attempted twice on Thursday to negotiate with Kurdistan Workers’ Party Commanders in the Shingal region “to lessen tensions and prevent violence” prior to Friday morning’s deadly clashes; however, the PKK commanders said only their leadership in the Qandil mountains had the authority to approve decisions, the General Command of Peshmerga Forces (GCPF) of the Kurdistan Region claimed in a statement.

 

“The groups set up a road block using six vehicles armed with DShK heavy machine guns,” the GCPF stated late Sunday night. “After second round of talks the two PKK commanders, Agid Civian and Zaki Shingali, originally from Turkey with zero connections to Sinjar, said without approval from PKK's leadership in Qandil Mountains, they were powerless to make decisions.”

 

GCPF also stated that the Shingal Protection Units (YBS) and the Syrian People’s Protection Units (YPG) blockaded Peshmerga forces, who were participating in “a routine deployment to control the porous border and prevent widespread smuggling.”

 

The YBS has consistently claimed that it was the Roj Brigade who initiated the clashes, trying to force their way into the YBS-held Khanasoor, near the town of Snune, in Shingal.

 

The clashes have led to the displacement of hundreds of families from the conflict areas, with some fleeing to Shingal Mountain. 

 

The deadly clashes that began at about 6:30 on Friday morning happened after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its affiliates “fired upon the Roj Brigade, part of an anti-ISIL alliance under the command of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, following a routine deployment to nearby positions,” according to GCPF, adding that the PKK has continued to deploy reinforcements backed by heavy weapons from Syria to the areas around Khanasoor within the Kurdistan Region.

 

The PKK-affiliated ANF news agency claimed seven fighters of the YBS and Women’s Protection Units (YJS) were killed, and additionally two HPG members of PKK were killed, claiming another 20 YBS/YJS fighters were wounded.

 

A Rudaw reporter was told four Rojava Peshmerga fighters were wounded. Rudaw could not independently confirm claims of dead or wounded.

 

The YBS and the PKK’s umbrella organization, the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK), have said in separate statements that they believe the events came after President Masoud Barzani’s recent visit to Turkey where he held meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

 

The issue of security was among the topics discussed in Barzani’s meetings with the Turkish side in late February, meetings that were described as “very good” and satisfactory by the Kurdish president. 

 

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in his January visit to Baghdad and Erbil that they had received assurance from the Iraqi and Kurdish governments that they would launch operations to force out the PKK fighters from Shingal.

 

Yildirim noted that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was also opposed to the PKK presence in the area. “They confirmed that they are prepared to launch operations to expel terrorist organizations in Sinjar,” he said. 

 

“The government in northern Iraq and also the Iraqi central government have promised us that they will not differentiate between one terrorist organization and another. We are thankful to both governments for their sensitivity in fighting terrorist organizations and for their seriousness in expelling terrorist organizations in Sinjar, and we are prepared to cooperate with both governments to fight terrorist organizations.” 

 

The GCPF release claimed that “PKK fighters in and around Sinjar continue to receive funding from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces,” an umbrella term for its Shiite-majority Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries, which in December 2016 were brought under the umbrella of the Iraqi army.

 

The spokesperson for the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had denied that Baghdad provides salaries to the PKK.

 

“The Iraqi government pays salaries to fighters organized within the Hashd al-Shaabi forces who are Iraqis. We do not pay to fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or any other foreign party,” Saad Hadithi told Rudaw late in January as he revealed that Baghdad and Erbil have reached an initial agreement to form a joint force to “enforce law and order” in the Yezidi town of Shingal and end the presence of armed groups in the area, without calling any group by name. 

 

Iraq’s Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi said in mid-February that the central government’s financial support to members of the terrorist organization would be stopped.

 

“Their [PKK members’] salaries were stopped as well as the support that went to a Yezidi group formed by the PKK,” Nujaifi told Rudaw TV in an interview. “To my knowledge, this was solved under American supervision.”

 

Kurdistan Regional Government officials have long said that the PKK and is its affiliates should withdraw from Shingal and allow the people of Shingal to determine who should be responsible for their security.