Erbil warns PKK it will not brook ‘external interference’ in Shingal

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has warned the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) against interfering in Shingal and trying to turn it into a canton under its own rule.

“We will not accept any external intervention in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,  since such an attempt is illegal and against the Iraqi constitution,” the KRG said in a statement.

It also condemned any “illegal administrative system” in Shingal.  Referring to the PKK, it said that, “instead of solving the crises of the people of the area, they are trying to manipulate the opportunities to impose their political interests in Shingal, and that will not be acceptable by us.”

Despite strained relations, the PKK-linked People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Syria have been fighting alongside the Kurdistan Region’s own Peshmerga forces against Islamic State (ISIS) forces that captured the predominantly Yezidi area in northern Iraq in August.

“The Yezidi people have been living in a bad condition and the Kurdsitan Region still considers the Shingal  calamity as a wound on the body of Kurdistan,” the KRG statement said.

“We want to announce that the current attempts of the PKK for creating a canton for Shingal is unlawful and is completely contradictory with the Iraqi institution and the Kurdistan Region laws, and they must stop these interventions inside the Kurdistan Region, as Shingal is part of the disputed areas in the Iraqi constitution,” the KRG said.

“The Peshmarga forces have planned to retake control of Shingal , and the KRG will continue to reconstruct this beloved area,” it added.

“We will propose to change Shingal from a city to self-rule governorate in a lawful way,” the statement said.

In February last year the Democratic Union Party, the PKK’s Syrian wing, unilaterally declared three cantons in Syrian Kurdistan, or Rojava. These have been under PYD-YPG rule since then.