The Democratic Autonomous Administration of Shengal took a stand against the attempt by the KDP to penetrate the region with armed units on Saturday. Apparently, the KDP tried to bring two candidates for the Iraqi parliamentary elections to Shengal by force of arms. Due to the blockades of the population, the troops had to withdraw again.
Members of the tribal association of Shengal also took part in the press conference in Sinun. Merwan Bedel, the co-chair of the Autonomous Council, first referred to the agreement concluded on 9 October 2020 between Baghdad and Hewlêr (Erbil) under international supervision on the future of the main Yazidi settlement area in northern Iraq and the developments of the past year. Since then, the KDP has intensified its efforts to establish itself in Shengal. These attempts failed because of the resistance of the population. The people of Shengal rejected the KDP because it abandoned them during the ISIS attack in 2014 and exposed them to genocide. As a consequence of this bitter experience, the Yazidi organized and defended themselves together with their Arab neighbours.
Bedel said that the election campaign was only a pretext for the KDP to achieve its long-term goal. “There is an election campaign going on in Shengal anyway. So far nobody has been prevented from doing so. Saturday’s incident had been on the agenda for twenty days. The members of the 17th KDP office wanted to return to Shengal. Aştî Koçer is responsible for this office. The return of the office members is part of the agreement directed against Shengal.”
The Autonomous Council rejects this policy directed against the Yazidi, stressed Bedel. “The KDP had been advised in advance that a return of its forces was not desired. The KDP ignored this warning and used the elections as a pretext. The aim of the KDP is to use a Yazidi site as a party base. In the past, high-ranking Yazidi religious scholars were prevented by the KDP from getting to Şerfedîn. Those responsible for the 17th office want to use this site as a base. We reject that.”
There is an agreement between the KDP and Iraq, said Merwan Bedel, adding: “We have also informed Iraq that we will not accept this. However, the Iraqi authorities have considered it legally legitimate for the KDP to come to Shengal for the election campaign. Now they say that all candidates must be given the opportunity to campaign. If everyone worked in a democratic way in the run-up to the elections, they could see that no one is more pro-democracy than us. However, if our Yazidi parties are not allowed to campaign, we will not allow their election campaign either. In any case, all this is not about the elections, the KDP wants to establish a base here. A large contingent of Peshmerga is currently being prepared for moving into Shengal.”