Yazidi commander says hand Shingal security over to Peshmerga
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Yazidi commander on Friday called for Kurdish Peshmerga forces to be put in charge of security in the Yazidi-majority Shingal (Sinjar) district of northern Iraq where multiple armed groups and forces operate, impeding the return of thousands of residents who fled when the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked 11 years ago.
“Until Shingal’s security file is handed over to the Peshmerga, the multiple forces and security problems will continue and the displaced will not trust to return to their homeland, and life in Shingal will not normalize,” Haider Shasho, commander of the Ezidikhan Protection Forces that are a Yazidi division within the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga Ministry, told Rudaw.
In 2020, the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed the Shingal Agreement to restore governance, security, and stability to the district and resolve a number of issues that have prevented the return of its inhabitants. Under that deal, Baghdad was to assume responsibility for security, expelling all armed groups and establishing a new armed force recruited from the local population.
The agreement has never been fully implemented and thousands of Yazidis are still unable to return home.
“There are many conspiracies against Shingal and there are political parties in Iraq conspiring against Shingal. That’s why the Shingal Agreement has not been implemented until now and the crisis and problems of the district remain ongoing,” Shasho said, calling on international actors to intervene and exert pressure on Baghdad to implement the deal.
Shingal is part of the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil. The areas stretch across several provinces, including Nineveh, Diyala, Salahaddin, and Kirkuk. Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which remains unimplemented, provides a process for the KRG and the federal government to settle their disputes.
“We wish that if Shingal’s security file is not handed over to the Peshmerga, at least those Peshmerga who are Yazidis should have their duties transferred to Shingal,” Shasho suggested, explaining that “would provide important psychological assistance” to the Yazidis, “most of whom are displaced and living in camps.”
The Yazidis are an ethnoreligious group in northern Iraq that were subjected to countless heinous atrocities, including forced marriages, sexual violence, and massacres when ISIS captured the city in 2014, bringing destruction to many villages and towns populated by the minority group and committing genocide.
They were forced to flee to displacement camps, mainly in the Kurdistan Region. Political disputes over the region between Baghdad and Erbil, as well as the presence of armed groups like the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), have disrupted reconstruction of the city that suffered heavy destruction during the war against ISIS.
International actors, such as the United Nations and the United States, have repeatedly called on Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to implement the agreement and “break the political deadlock” in the city.
Shasho said the PKK forces in Shingal “should also lay down their arms” after the group dissolved itself and announced it was ending its decades-long armed conflict with Turkey.
“While the PKK is recognized as a banned organization in Iraq and has now dissolved itself, its armed members continue in Shingal and the Iraqi government supports them,” Shasho claimed.
The Yazidi Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) and Ezidkhan Asayish were formed by the PKK to oust ISIS. They control parts of the district.
The PKK and its proxies have rejected the Shingal Agreement.
Nwenar Fatih contributed to this report.
“Until Shingal’s security file is handed over to the Peshmerga, the multiple forces and security problems will continue and the displaced will not trust to return to their homeland, and life in Shingal will not normalize,” Haider Shasho, commander of the Ezidikhan Protection Forces that are a Yazidi division within the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga Ministry, told Rudaw.
In 2020, the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed the Shingal Agreement to restore governance, security, and stability to the district and resolve a number of issues that have prevented the return of its inhabitants. Under that deal, Baghdad was to assume responsibility for security, expelling all armed groups and establishing a new armed force recruited from the local population.
The agreement has never been fully implemented and thousands of Yazidis are still unable to return home.
“There are many conspiracies against Shingal and there are political parties in Iraq conspiring against Shingal. That’s why the Shingal Agreement has not been implemented until now and the crisis and problems of the district remain ongoing,” Shasho said, calling on international actors to intervene and exert pressure on Baghdad to implement the deal.
Shingal is part of the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil. The areas stretch across several provinces, including Nineveh, Diyala, Salahaddin, and Kirkuk. Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which remains unimplemented, provides a process for the KRG and the federal government to settle their disputes.
“We wish that if Shingal’s security file is not handed over to the Peshmerga, at least those Peshmerga who are Yazidis should have their duties transferred to Shingal,” Shasho suggested, explaining that “would provide important psychological assistance” to the Yazidis, “most of whom are displaced and living in camps.”
The Yazidis are an ethnoreligious group in northern Iraq that were subjected to countless heinous atrocities, including forced marriages, sexual violence, and massacres when ISIS captured the city in 2014, bringing destruction to many villages and towns populated by the minority group and committing genocide.
They were forced to flee to displacement camps, mainly in the Kurdistan Region. Political disputes over the region between Baghdad and Erbil, as well as the presence of armed groups like the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), have disrupted reconstruction of the city that suffered heavy destruction during the war against ISIS.
International actors, such as the United Nations and the United States, have repeatedly called on Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to implement the agreement and “break the political deadlock” in the city.
Shasho said the PKK forces in Shingal “should also lay down their arms” after the group dissolved itself and announced it was ending its decades-long armed conflict with Turkey.
“While the PKK is recognized as a banned organization in Iraq and has now dissolved itself, its armed members continue in Shingal and the Iraqi government supports them,” Shasho claimed.
The Yazidi Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) and Ezidkhan Asayish were formed by the PKK to oust ISIS. They control parts of the district.
The PKK and its proxies have rejected the Shingal Agreement.
Nwenar Fatih contributed to this report.