PKK seizes administrative position in Sinjar with the force of arms, local official says
Shafaq News / The Commissioner of Sinjar district in Nineveh, Mahma Khalil, stated on Friday that the anti-Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) seized administrative positions in the district by force of arms.
Earlier on Friday, Baghdad and Erbil reached an agreement over security and administration issues in Sinjar.
Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, said after signing of the agreement that his government is keen on freeing Sinjar of the hegemony of internal or external armed groups, in reference to Kurdistan Workers Party.
Khalil told Shafaq News agency, "Kurdistan workers party seized administrative positions in Sinjar by the force of arms, amid the neglect of the Iraqi government, despite the fact that this party is not recognized internationally, legally and socially".
He indicated, "this party infiltrated Sinjar to trade contraband and implement suspicious schemes".
Khalil stressed, "Sinjar administration is officially recognized according to the provincial council's law 21 of 2008, and any departments outside that, are tribally, socially and politically rejected by all the components".
He added, "the wrong policies have obstructed the return of the displaced to Sinjar and its suburbs from the ruins of 6 years ago".
ISIS invaded Sinjar district in 2014 and committed a massacre against its residents, before the Peshmerga forces liberated it the following year.
However, the Iraqi army backed by Al-Hashd invaded the region due to the tension between the region and the federal government against the backdrop of the independence referendum in 2017.
There are currently two local governments for Sinjar, one of which was appointed by the federal government authorities, and the second is the elected government, which operates from Duhok governorate.
The anti-Ankara PKK also formed a faction loyal to it there, called the "Sinjar Protection Units" and receives salaries from the Iraqi government as a faction under the umbrella of Al-Hashd Al-Shaab.
Turkey over the past few months has been carrying daily artillery and aerial attacks on the border areas of Kurdistan Region under the pretext of the presence of Kurdistan workers Party there. However, the party rejects the repeated calls from Kurdistan Regional Government to leave the region which impedes the return of tens of thousands of displaced Yazidis to their homes.
