“KDP must explain why Barzani was silent on Turkish PM’s comments”

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PKK cannot
share Sinjar. Administratively, Sinjar is not attached to the Kurdish
region. It is one of the disputed locations whose status will be decided
by a referendum. When the town close to the Syrian border in northern
Iraq was occupied by the Islamic State (IS) in 2014, the PKK and KRG forces intervened together. After IS was ousted from the town, the PKK refused to leave, despite warnings from the KRG.

The problem of Sinjar rose between Syria and Iraq after World War I,
when both countries demanded to control it. But after borders were
demarcated, it was forgotten. The PKK appeared years later to make use
of Sinjar’s proximity to the Syrian border. The fact that the majority
of the people in Sinjar were Yazidis provided an edge to the PKK.

According to Muslims, Yazidis are pagans who worship the devil. The PKK
embraced the Yazidis, which provided the Kurdish organization with a
popular base. In 1998, although some PKK members took up residence in
Sinjar, they didn’t stay for long because of their internal problems:
Syria recognized the PKK as a terrorist organization in 1998, and Syrian
President Hafez al-Assad expelled PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
After
2000, the PKK tried once more to enter Sinjar, but that, too, was foiled
under pressure from the United States and Turkey. The PKK was getting
organized among the Yazidis, but it couldn’t settle down in the town.
Why does the PKK want Sinjar so much?

Syria is why the PKK wants to control Sinjar.
This became even more important after PKK-affiliated groups started to
dominate the Kurdish-populated parts of Syria. Sinjar provides a
defensive line and also a logistics hub for the area the PKK calls
Rojava. Should the PKK control it, Sinjar would also become a key
connection route between its camps in Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria.

The KDP wants Sinjar because it wants to win the Yazidis
who were angered when peshmerga forces withdrew when IS attacked
Sinjar.
The KRG also wants to be near Syria. There has been tension in
the region for years between the PKK, which dominates most parts of the
region, and the pro-KDP groups. If the KDP ever controls Sinjar, its
influence in the region could expand.

Kamuran Mentik of the Political Sciences Faculty of Salahuddin University, said the problem was between Turkey and the Kurds.

“[Sinjar] is strategically vital for western Kurdistan [Syria]. It is
the rear support base for western Kurdistan. Turkey wants to isolate
western Kurdistan by controlling [Sinjar], even indirectly. That is the
idea behind igniting a war by using the KDP to expel the PKK or Rojava
Kurds from there. No doubt Iran has a part in this process. Iran wants
to remain far removed from the Syrian war. Turkey is planning to attack
the Qandil Mountains in the coming spring. Qandil is closer to Iran
geopolitically. Iran doesn’t want Turkey in Qandil close to Iran,”
Mentik told Al-Monitor.

Mentik believes the tension between the parties is fought through the
media and will not lead to armed confrontation. “The KDP is in bad
shape. A war will not be in its interest. Most of their media messages
are addressed to Turkey, not to each other. If the Kurds don’t want to
fight each other, then the PKK and the KDP have to sit down and talk.
People don’t want a war. The KDP seems to have lost its own free will.
Turkey wants the KDP to fight,” he added.

Former Kurdistan parliament member Aso Kerim said with the ousting of
IS, the PKK’s mission has ended. Stating that all the areas controlled
by the PKK are vulnerable to the Kurds, “A PKK withdrawal in
coordination with the KRG will be welcomed. The Turkish government has
openly said it will not allow a second Qandil structure at Sinjar. The
PKK has to take these threats seriously,” Kerim told Al-Monitor.

Kerim doesn’t believe Iran and Turkey are behind the scenes at
Sinjar, adding, “I don’t believe the PKK is fighting for Iran nor the
KDP/KRG for Turkey. The problem is Iraq, Iran and Turkey are instigating
problems and tensions among the Kurdish parties for their own
interests. But I don’t think tensions will lead to clashes between the
Kurds. The PKK will not give pretext to Turkey and others to turn
Kurdistan into a battlefield. It is important for the PKK to withdraw
its forces,” he added.

According to political observers in the region, Iran will not allow
the PKK to withdraw from Sinjar and redeploy to Qandil. The PKK will
then become a target for Iran. Turkey does want a new PKK base in
Sinjar. Will this tension between the Kurds become a war?

A senior KDP official who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of
anonymity said such a war is not likely. “We won’t have an internecine
war. [Iraqi Kurdistan President] Massoud Barzani has issued strict
orders against it,” he said.

Some local Iraqi Kurdish sources told Al-Monitor that the parties are
actually holding secret meetings to solve the problem. This was
verified also by senior PKK leader Murat Karayilan in a statement. “We
are actually talking to each other. We have told them that once the
talks are concluded, that we as the HPG [People’s Defense Forces, the
PKK’s military wing] will withdraw our forces,” Karayilan said in his statement.

So at the end, the PKK will withdraw. But it is not easy for the PKK
to give up Sinjar. Even if it withdraws its fighters, it will continue
with its efforts to discreetly build a robust organization in Sinjar.