Iraqi Kurdish official accuses PKK of blocking aid to Ezidis in Sinjar

ERBIL, Iraq

An official from Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) accused the PKK terrorist organization Wednesday of causing security problems in the Sinjar region, which has led to the disruption of aid delivery. 

Speaking to Anadolu, Hayri Bozani from the KRG’s Ministry of Religious Affairs said a security agreement signed on Oct. 9, 2020 has still not been implemented despite more than two and a half years passing.

“Families cannot return to their homes in the region because of armed groups,” Bozani said.

Calling on the UN, which he said is the third party in the October 2020 agreement, to take action, he said: “We all know that the PKK is on the world’s terror list.”

“Terrorist groups are the biggest obstacle to security in Sinjar. I don’t believe in establishing peace in the region as long as these groups exist,” he added.

In October 2020, the Iraqi federal government and the KRG in northern Iraq signed an agreement to preserve security in Sinjar through the Iraqi federal security forces in coordination with the KRG Peshmerga forces.

Daesh/ISIS terrorists attacked Sinjar, a region with an Ezidi-majority population, in August 2014.

The terror group kidnapped and killed thousands of people, including women and children, or detained them in areas under its control.

The PKK terrorist organization managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in 2014 under the pretext of protecting the Ezidi community from Daesh/ISIS terrorists.

Sinjar has a strategic position, as it is some 120 kilometers (74 miles) from Mosul and close to the Turkish-Syrian border.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

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