Calls for PKK to leave Sinjar in allow residents to return

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party should leave the Iraqi city of Sinjar in order to allow the city’s residents to return, the Anadolu Agency reported the major saying.

Speaking to journalists on the first anniversary of the liberation of the city from Daesh, Mayor Mahma Khalil said that displaced residents did not return to their homes due to the presence of the illegitimate armed guerrilla groups, particularly the PKK.

“The PKK presence hinders the return of the residents,” he said, “therefore, we call for them to leave the city immediately. This is one of the demands of the residents.”

“It is impossible to allow the PKK to remain in Sinjar whatever the reasons are because their existence causes tension and instability in the city.”

Khalil noted that 616 Peshmerga members had been killed since Daesh raided Sinjar and its surroundings on August 2014.

In November 2015, the Peshmerga and armed Yezidi militants, backed by airstrikes by the international coalition, pushed Daesh out of the city.

The PKK has been deployed in the city since 2014 under the pretext of fighting Daesh.