After the military forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) were prevented from entering the Yazidi town of Sinjar (Shengal) at the weekend by the local people who set up barricades on the roads and participated in a sit down protest, a statement has been made by the Autonomous Administration of Sinjar on the controversial attempt by the KDP’s military units to enter and take up positions.
Speaking at a press conference held in the district of Sinunê, Merwan Bedel, the co-chair of Sinjar’s Autonomous Administration Assembly, drew attention to the 9 October 2020 agreement between the Baghdad and Erbil (Hewlêr) administrations, indicating that KDP’s moves to take over Sinjar has gained momentum since then.
He commented that the KDP was trying to achieve a military build-up in the region using false claims that its parliamentary candidates were prevented from entering Sinjar, and added that no election campaign has in fact met any obstacle.
“As the autonomous administration we do not comply with this policy,” he said, referring to KDP’s takeover attempt. “We’ll never accept agreements excluding the people of Sinjar, and made without their consent.”
Bedel stated that KDP intended to lay the ground for provocations in Sinjar.
“The military forces KDP wants to place here are not from Sinjar,” he said. “They’re neither Yazidis, nor have anything to do with Sinjar. They just want to create problems and chaos in Sinjar.”
Bedel underlined that they would not let KDP set up military posts in Sinjar.
“Political parties can not be permitted to establish bases on Yazidi graveyards, and on places that are sacred for the Yazidi people,” he said.