ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Under the Erbil-Baghdad agreement on Shingal, struck on Friday, security for the troubled region will be the responsibility of the federal government, which will establish a new armed force recruiting from the local population and expel the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to details released on Saturday. Part of the “historic” deal is the employment of 2,500 people, to include “1,500 Yezidi youth from the camps and 1,000 young men from Shingal as part of the security forces in the district,” tweeted Ahmad Mulla Talal, spokesperson for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Talal explained that the agreement to reorganize the administration and security of the Yezidi homeland falls under “the exclusive authority of the federal government” and will be done “in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government.” A new armed force will be formed, according to details of the plan shared by Farhad Alaaldin, chairman of the Iraqi Advisory Council. The agreement will also end the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and all its affiliates. The PKK participated in the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Yezidi homeland of Shingal and it supports the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) who are one of some six armed groups or forces currently operating in the Shingal area. Turkey, which has carried out airstrikes against alleged PKK targets in Shingal, tentatively welcomed the new agreement. The Foreign Ministry said it hoped the plan will lead to “re-instating the control of the Iraqi authorities in Sinjar [Shingal], the eradication of DAESH [ISIS] and PKK terrorist organizations and their extensions in the region and ensuring the safe return to their ancestral lands of Ezidis [Yezidis] and the other people of the region who have been subject to grave oppression and persecution of first DAESH and then of PKK.” The ministry added it was ready to cooperate with Baghdad in “countering terrorism” in Shingal and elsewhere in Iraq. A new mayor will also be elected and rehabilitation and administration of Shingal will be jointly coordinated by Erbil and Baghdad, according to details shared by Alaaldin. The agreement has been welcomed by the United Nations, the United States, and France, while Yezidi organizations are waiting to see full details of the plan. “We are not rushing to optimism,” said the Free Yezidi Foundation, adding that Yezidi groups need access to information about the deal. A group called the Shengal Autonomous Administration said the people of area were not included in the talks between Erbil and Baghdad and rejected any decision imposed on them without their participation, according to a statement published by the PKK-affiliated ANF media. Shingal lies within areas disputed between the governments in Baghdad and Erbil. The Yezidi population fled when ISIS swept through northern Iraq in 2014, committing genocide against the minority group. Hundreds of thousands sought refuge in camps in the Kurdistan Region, more than 6,000 people were kidnapped by the group, and over 1,200 killed. Federal forces took control of the region in 2017 after the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum. The Yezidi population remains traumatized and few have been able to return to their homes because of lack of reconstruction and services and the suicide rate among Yezidi youth is on the rise. Kadhimi said the agreement will “accelerate and facilitate the return of the displaced to the district.” Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani welcomed the deal as “a national step in the right direction and it is in the interest of the entire country. It will lead to restoring and strengthening trust between the Federal Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government.”
