Sozdar Avesta, KCK Presidential Council member, spoke to ANF about the situation in the Yazidi settlement area of ​​Shengal and the agreement reached on 9 October in Baghdad. In the agreement, which was reached under UN supervision and under pressure from the USA and Turkey, the South Kurdish ruling party KDP and the Iraqi government defined the future of Shengal and divided responsibilities among themselves. The Yazidi autonomous administration, including its defense and security forces, are to be dissolved, according to the agreement.

As Avesta points out, the concept is the same plan envisaged for all of Kurdistan. We publish a small excerpt from the interview, which deals with three dimensions: What does the population of Shengal want, what does Iraq want and what is the KDP doing?

What do the people of Shengal want?

What the people of Shengal want is very clear. Countless massacres have been carried out against the Yazidi community. The wounds are still very fresh. So the people reject the agreement because it would mean another massacre. The population of Shengal has changed since 2014. It acts consciously. Shengal needs an autonomous status guaranteed in the Iraqi constitution, with which the people can govern and defend themselves. The Iraqi constitution allows such a status. The people of Shengal and the Yazidi society have been fighting for it for six years. In 2016, they presented their own projects on this subject to the then Iraqi government.

The people in Shengal do not want to found their own state. They don't want to break away from Iraq and they don't want to occupy any part of the country. All they want is a life with their own strengths and values. The pain experienced should not be repeated. When the agreement was concluded, Yazidi society was not asked for its opinion or consent. Despite this, the people of Shengal behaved responsibly and expressed their demands using democratic methods. A number of delegations have been sent to Baghdad, one is still there to try and resolve this problem through dialogue.

What does Iraq want?

The Iraqi government has nonetheless deployed a large contingent of troops to Shengal and this tension continues. The government knows that the Yazidis will not do any harm, but it is under pressure from the Turkish state and the KDP. However, Iraq is not forced to give in to these threats. If it bows to the threats against a people who have already been victim of many massacres, it cannot maintain its existing multi-structure. Coexistence between the various religious and communities in Iraq will then no longer be possible. The confessional conflicts will deepen. All social groups in Iraq will perceive the central government as a threat. And in the future Iraq will fall apart. What [Turkish president] Erdoğan is trying to implement today in Shengal, is what he will try to do tomorrow in Kirkuk, Mosul and Til Afer. The Iraqi government wants to sacrifice Shengal in order to maintain its own power.

In its current political and economic situation, Iraq will not be able to sustain a situation in which confessional conflict deepen and will ultimately succumb. The foreign powers are demanding concessions from Iraq and an improvement in relations with Turkey. Iraq knows that the Turkish state supports ISIS. It knows what has happened in the last seven years and how we get to today’s situation. And because it knows that, it has to end its political cooperation with Turkey. Iraq must reach a strategic agreement with the Yazidis that takes into account the rights of the Yazidi people. If Iraq is able to do so, its position against the threats issued by Turkish state and the KDP will strengthen. It must not get involved in these machinations and must solve the existing problems through dialogue and by recognizing the will of the Yazidi people.

What does the KDP, controlled by Turkey, want?

The KDP has a clear hostility towards the Yazidi faith. It openly shows this hostility towards Shengal. It is serving Turkey. The current KDP policies resemble in fact the fascist special war mentality of Erdoğan and Bahçeli. The KDP is hostile to the population of Shengal and the Yazidi community. It never acknowledged their will. It subjected this people to massacre. What was not destroyed back then is apparently set to be destroyed today. The Yazidis should disappear. When Shengal was occupied by ISIS, the KDP fled and left the people in the hands of the mercenaries. The Liberation Movement stepped in and saved the Yazidi people. Instead of being happy about it, the KDP continues to act as if it had done it itself.

Today's Prime Minister Mesrur Barzani was the then KDP's security officer and said: “If the PKK leaves Shengal, we will defeat you within two hours. You cannot resist.” This person still thinks that way about Shengal today. With the withdrawal of its forces from Shengal in spring 2018, the KDP clearly positioned itself. The people of Shengal are aware of what the KDP really wants. The KDP wants to use the Yazidis living in Duhok and the surrounding area for its own interests. The Laleş sanctuary is under the control of the KDP. It has captured all the Yazidi values ​​there, so to speak. Nobody can pray there without the permission of the KDP.

The people of Shengal act very responsibly with regard to a Yazidi unity and the holy Ezidxan. For six years people have been resisting and showing an incredible commitment. They have built up an autonomous administration and rule and they defend themselves. They know that no one else will protect them from massacres.