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Following the Sinjar agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government, there have been many criticisms of the deal from a variety of sources.
On 9 October Yazidi intellectuals and writers issued a declaration against the Sinjar agreement. The Sinjar Autonomous Administration (MXŞD) also made a statement criticising the agreement on the grounds that it ignored the will of the Yazidi people living in Sinjar.
On 25 October, 511 Yazidi citizens and intellectuals announced a declaration against the Sinjar agreement. According to the Mesopotamia Agency’s correspondant İdris Sayıgan’s report, poet and politician Xebat Şakir, journalist Osman Şahin, writer İbrahim Osman, and Lokman Barış are among the signatories of the declaration.
Xebat Şakir said that the agreement was signed without asking Yazidi people and they would not recognise an agreement between the forces that caused the Yazidi Massacre. Şakir added, “They aim to finish the massacre that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) left incomplete. If they do not consider people living in Sinjar, the agreement is without a mandate and may lead to significant dangers for the existence of Sinjar’s citizens”.
Turkey’s role
Arguing that Turkey’s role in the agreement was obvious, Şakir said, “Turkey has been against Kurdish people or free and democratic forces under all conditions. So Turkey is behind the agreement. The Turkish state is on its way to being the primary military force both in North and East Syria (Rojava) and in Iraqi Kurdistan. Now they are trying to pick a civil war among Kurdish forces by means of the KDP. While a solution is more likely to arise, a civil war will lead all Kurdish people to lose”.
Şakir also added that if the Yazidis were removed, the Kurdish people would also be targeted.
Another signatory, Osman Şahin, criticised the agreement and said it aimed to create conflicts between Yazidis so that Erbil (Hewler) and Baghdad could establish their power again in the region. Referring to the declaration, Şahin pointed out that, if necessary, Yazidi people would fight against the agreement.
The agreement includes Turkey’s demands
Writer İbrahim Osman underlined that the agreement was not only between the KRG and Iraqi government, but that Turkey was also an influential force. Osman took issue with the KDP’s attitude against the Yazidi people and stated that Yazidis were aware of the fact that the KDP would not protect them. He said that the KDP acted in favour of Turkey’s demands and the Yazidi people would not approve the agreement.
Osman stated that the agreement aimed to remove the Yazidi people from the area and the armed forces in the region had nothing to do with the defence of Yazidis. Osman also said the agreement could mean a new genocide against Yazidis.
Historian and journalist Loqman Barış said that the agreement was a strike against Kurdish national unity. The agreement, Barış noted, indicated a new decree for Yazidis and added that a referendum was needed. However, he said, the Iraqi central government had blocked the agreement.
Barış lambasted the KDP and said that the agreement aimed to provoke Yazidi people into migrating from the area, in order to construct a Sunni line from Raqqa to KDP-ruled areas.
