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Xezal Resho, the co-chair of the Autonomous Council in Sinjar (Shengal), northern Iraq, reacted to a recent attempt by military units of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to enter and take up positions in the region.
Speaking to Jin News, Xezal Resho said that they will not allow anything to happen that goes against the will of the Yazidi people.
The move of the KDP forces was thwarted on 2 October by people who took to the streets and set up barricades on the roads.
Xezal Resho pointed out that the Yazidi people are now a well organised community and have struggled against many dirty political games being played in the region.
“Our people are now politically conscious and aware of their identity,” she said. “They are also very well organised for defending the cause of freedom. They are not the same people they were before the time of the genocide.”
Indicating that the people of the region has put up a resistance, blocking entry to the forces of the KDP to enter Sinjar, Resho stated that they were well aware of the dirty games the KDP has been playing.
“They will never succeed with their plans in Sinjar,” she added and continued:
“We are the voice of our people. We have been elected and hold responsibility for the fate of our people. We are their representatives and we will do whatever they ask us to do. Our people do not want them to come into Sinjar, and so we do not allow them to pass.”
Xezal noted that the KDP used the claimed presence and activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the region as an excuse to step in and enforce the terms of the agreement between Erbil (Hewler) and Baghdad administrations signed on 9 October 2020
She said the claims were not true:
“No, there is no PKK here. We are the people of Sinjar, everybody knows and sees this. The truth is that we’ll not trust those who had abandoned us twice already. We can no longer trust them.”
She strongly criticised the KDP for trying to bring in military units, and drew attention to the intimidation by the KDP carried out against their candidates before the Iraqi parliamentary elections to be held on October 10:
“We are not against free campaigning for the elections in our communities. Both Vîyan [Dakhil], Muhammed, and Şêx Simêl are more than welcome to carry out their campaigns. What we don’t accept is that they [the KDP] obstruct our candidate Şêx Simel from visiting the Yazidi people in the camps and obstruct him to carry out his election campaign in Southern Kurdistan. They, on the other hand, accompany other candidates with army units, and try to raid to our free homeland Sinjar. This is simply not fair.”
