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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The US on Tuesday suggested Turkey, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region should work together with the support of the US-led coalition to clear Shingal of militia groups following Turkish airstrikes in the area on Tuesday night.
The call came hours after Turkish warplanes resumed airstrikes on Shingal in the second attack on the Yezidi heartland since the onset of their latest operation in mid-June. The attack targeted a vehicle belonging to the Shingal Protection Units (YBS) according to Snune Mayor Khudeda Chuke.
The Iraqi Security Media Cell said late Tuesday on its Telegram channel that two civilians were killed in the attacks, contrary to Chuke's reports of no casualties.
"If you could have the Kurdistan Regional Government, the federal government in Baghdad, and Turkey working together with advice and support from the United States and other coalition countries, you could see where maybe a place like Sinjar (Shingal) could be cleared out of militias, including the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party],"the US State Department's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Joey Hood said on Tuesday when briefing reporters about the second round of the US-Iraq Strategic Dialogue.
Along with the Kurdistan Region's mountainous areas, Turkey occasionally targets Shingal and its surroundings on the grounds that it is seeking out the PKK and its affiliates in the area.
The PKK is an armed Kurdish group which has fought Turkey for rights for the country’s Kurdish minority for decades, and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara. Eight civilians have died in Operation Claw-Eagle, Turkey’s current aerial campaign in the Kurdistan Region and disputed territories.
Shingal is a disputed area that is claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad and was the site of a genocide against the Yezidi ethnoreligious community by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014. It is controlled by numerous different armed groups and security forces including groups associated with the PKK and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic).
The PKK took part in operations to expel ISIS from Shingal in November 2015 and subsequently remained to provide security and train local forces. Despite the KRG, the Iraqi government and neighboring Ankara objecting to the presence of the PKK in the region, the group has said it will leave Shingal only once the Yezidi population has control of their own administration and security.
The KRG has said the PKK is hindering reconstruction of the area and the return of the displaced Yezidi population.
"You could put a civilian administration in there that would work for the people and be accepted by the people," Hood said, adding such moves will pave the way for "Yezidi IDPs, victims of genocide" to "go home".
"They can’t do it safely and voluntarily right now," he added.
The presence of multiple armed groups in Shingal has widely been cited by Yezidis as a key barrier to returning home, as well as a lack of services.
In the same briefing, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq David Copley echoed the sentiment that Turkey and Iraq should "work closely together to address concerns about the PKK’s presence in northern Iraq."
Copley deemed it "important" to "recognize that Turkey has legitimate security interests" in northern Iraq.
"We think the best way to solve these problems is for both parties to work together, and hopefully maybe we can play a role in potentially making this happen in a way that’s good for stability and for both parties," he explained.
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