The government in Iraq’s Kurdistan region hopes the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, will accept that it needs to withdraw militants from the contested Sinjar area, the chancellor of the regional Security Council, Masrour Barzani, said Thursday in Washington, DC.
“The presence of PKK has complicated the situation and we hope that they will eventually come to terms and accept that they need to return to their own places and leave Sinjar,” Barzani said.
“This is not a territory where they can establish their rule; they have to respect what the KRG needs to do in that area,” Barzani told the audience. “It’s up to the people of Sinjar to actually run and govern their own areas.”
Sinjar was liberated from the Islamic State terror group by Kurdish-led forces in November 2015. Kurds have already established a military base in the region.
Turkey is concerned about the Kurdish presence in Sinjar, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan having said Ankara would prevent Sinjar from becoming a “second Qandil,” referring to an area of northern Iraq in which PKK militants are active.
BIDEN, BARZANI MEET
US Vice President Joe Biden met Kurdistan Regional Security Council Chancellor Masrour Barzani and a delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to discuss the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq, the KRG’s US representative said in a statement.
"Masrour Barzani and Kurdistan delegation just had a meeting at the White House with Vice President Biden and [the US National Security Council]," the KRG envoy said in a Twitter post on Thursday. "Thanked America for supporting Peshmerga against ISIS [Islamic State]."
Barzani said the delegation discussed security and political challenges in Iraq after the defeat of the Islamic State, as well as future dynamics in the country.
