DUHOK, Kurdistan Region— The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has vowed not to retreat from the Shangal Mountains in the Kurdish region of Iraq. “We are not a visiting force, we are here and we are going to stay,” said Raparin Angizak, commander of the Protection Units of Shangal (YPS), which is an affiliate of the PKK. The PKK recently completed a military training course in the Military Academy they established on the Shangal Mountains, reported the PKK media. The academy teaches military skills and ideological values to the Yazidi Kurds and prepares them to be recruited by the YPS. YPS is under PKK command and was formed in 2014 after the fall of Shangal to the Islamic State. “Our people will protect themselves with the YBS and the YPG of Shangal,” said Angizak during the graduation ceremony of 21 Yazidi Kurds from the PKK military academy. “Freedom and Shangal are not in Europe,” said Angizak, commenting on the mass immigration of Yazidi Kurds to Europe. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is opposed to the presence of PKK forces on the Shangal Mountains and considers them an illegal force in the Kurdistan Region In response to the KDP’s opposition, Angizak said, “We are not guests here, we will stay here and we will be victorious.”
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