ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Some members of an all-Yazidi brigade of Peshmerga forces announced on Saturday that they had "resigned" from their brigade and announced their plan to join the Iraqi army. However, a Kurdish military judge warned on Sunday that the move is illegal, adding that it could harm Erbil-Baghdad relations.
A representative of the deserted Peshmerga fighters, who were part of the Shingal (Sinjar) brigade - an affiliate of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) - on Saturday told journalists in Baghdad that they “resigned” from their military duties “within the borders of the Kurdistan Region” and from “all military and partisan ties binding us” to Erbil. They claimed the move was in rejection of the Kurdistan Region’s policies against the Yazidis and the “exploitation of their suffering for political gains.”
Kurdawan Naqshbandi, a Kurdish military court judge, told Rudaw on Sunday that if these Peshmerga fighters answer to Iraq, it would be considered “defection,” adding that it will also be a “violation of military discipline.”
“If the Iraqi army accepts their defection, it will create a new point of contention with the Kurdistan Region,” Naqshbandi warned, urging relevant authorities in Baghdad to handle the situation responsibly.
The Kurdish and Iraqi governments have yet to comment on the matter.
Naqshbandi further clarified that Peshmerga forces joining the Iraqi army without the official approval of Erbil is illegal and that such a move is illegal.
According to the military laws in the Kurdistan Region, those who defect will face trial in the military court under Article 48 of the Military Penal Code.
The brigade claimed that they consist of over a thousand fighters, including high-ranking officers, but their commander told Rudaw that their number is less than 200 fighters and do not include senior officers.
“The number they announced, claiming it to be 1,200 people, has no basis and they are not even 200,” Qasim Shasho said. He noted that the brigade consists of around 8,000 members and will continue to fulfill their duty.
Shasho said a number of the deserted fighters have returned to the brigade.
Shasho’s brigade was formed after the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked the Yazidi heartland of Shingal (Sinjar) in 2014, killing and kidnapping a large number of its residents.
The presence of a variety of armed groups in Shingal has hindered the return of its people who fled the town during the ISIS attack.