US says PKK shouldn’t be in Shingal, urging Baghdad to oppose their presence

US says PKK shouldn’t be in Shingal, urging Baghdad to oppose their presence

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Local Yezidis gathered on Mount Shingal to collect aid from a German charity organization, November 2015. Photo: Rudaw

WASHINGTON DC—The United States government believes that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) should not be in the Kurdish Yezidi town of Shingal and that their presence there makes the return of refugees and internally displaced people difficult, said State Department deputy spokesperson on Tuesday.


“We believe that the PKK, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, should have no role in Sinjar,” said State Dept. Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner at a press briefing in Washington. “We regard their presence there as a major obstacle to reconciliation, as well as to refugee return, to the return of internally displaced people.”


Toner said that the situation of refugees was the priority and urged all parties in the area to facilitate their return.


“We urge all groups active in Sinjar to facilitate political reconciliation so that these IDPs, these internally displaced people, can return and that the communities that they were driven from can begin to rebuild,” he said. “And we urge continued close cooperation between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government to defeat Daesh and to resolve any other outstanding issues between them.”


On the question of the Iraqi government funding the PKK in Shingal and its training of local fighters, Toner called on Baghdad to oppose the group’s presence in the area and rather focus on establishing stability.


Toner said: “In terms of whether Baghdad supports the PKK – I mean, that’s something – that’s a question you’d have to ask the Government of Iraq. We believe that the government shares our concern over restoring stability in Sinjar and oppose the PKK presence there.”


At the briefing Toner reiterated Washington’s opposition to the PKK and on its activities inside Turkey, saying: “Let me be clear that we reject any group providing support to the PKK or enabling its terrorist campaign within Turkey.”


In 2014 when ISIS militants attacked Mosul and later Shingal a group of PKK fighters from Syrian Kurdistan came to the town and have since stayed in the area, refusing calls from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to leave.


KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani echoes the US concern that the PKK presence in the Shingal region prevents the return of refugees for fear of a new conflict.


“The PKK presence is preventing people from returning to their homes.” Barzani told al-monitor in an interview on Friday. “They are hesitating to return for fear of renewed conflict, out of concern as to what uncertain future awaits them and not because, as some allege, that we are the ones stopping them from reclaiming their lives, their homes. We share their concerns, and this is why we strongly believe that the PKK must leave Sinjar.”


Barzani said that his government recognized and appreciated the role of the Democratic Unity Party (PYD) in helping local Yezidis to safety during the ISIS invasion of 2014, “But under the present circumstances, the presence of PKK forces in Sinjar will only add to instability in the area and nothing more.”