Rights and Freedoms Party (HAK-PAR), known to be close to the political line of the KDP, sent a delegation to Sinjar and South Kurdistan to carry out inspections about ISIS massacres in the region. Following the return of the delegation the party has issued a report.

The report deserves attention as it records the withdrawal of the peshmerga forces in the face of attacks of ISIS, liking it to their losing their capacity to fight and stresses the important role of PYD in opening a secure corridor to rescue the people of Sinjar from attacks. The report also says the withdrawal of the peshmerga forces was due to “lack of suitable weapons, the strength of ISIS and the unexpected ISIS attack”. While reluctantly accepting the role the PYD played in the region, the report also says “however, the PYD is creating some problems for the peshmerga”.

The delegation of HAK-PAR, composed of the vice chairs of the party, Bayram Boyzel, Nevzat Teker and Resit Deli, went to South Kurdistan on 3 September for a 5-day inspection. The delegation issued its report on its return, sharing important assessments. The report states that the delegation visited refugee camps in Zakho and Duhok as well as having talks with some important political figures in the region.

The report states that the attacks started with the assault on Sinjar spread over an area of 110 square km, and following the siege of Makhmur threatened Hewler. The report says: “The Kurdistan Region was not expecting an attack from ISIS” according to information the delegation obtained from the authorities, adding: “Several days before the attacks, some tribal leaders in the Mosul region had gone to Selahadin and declared loyalty to the president of the Kurdistan Region. However, the same tribes were to rise up against the peshmerga forces in collaboration with ISIS several days later”.

Stressing that the Kurdistan region was not prepared to the attack of ISIS as it was not expecting it, the report however says that the problem goes much further than this, adding: “The peshmerga was not prepared to counter the methods of warfare and military capabilities of ISIS”. The report mentions that the peshmerga forces were not properly equipped in comparison to the superiority ISIS gained by means of the weapons it had seized in Mosul, saying: “Additionally, the peshmerga had not fought for years and in a sense had lost its capacity to fight”. The report also alleges that the balance of power changed, not through the coming of other Kurdish forces from the other parts of Kurdistan to the south, but through the “American air strikes”, further stating that Barzani declared “a war of honour” against ISIS.

The report also mentions that the parties in East Kurdistan helped the peshmerga in the fight against ISIS, while remarkably not mentioning the presence of HPG and YPG forces in the region.

The report necomes interesting as it confirms the withdrawal of the peshmerga forces in the face of ISIS attacks as well as the negligence of the peshmerga. Concerning the issue the report states:

“The peshmerga forces in the Sinjar region of during the attacks of ISIS were limited. When ISIS attacked some peshmerga battalions fought until the end and some peshmerga fell in this struggle. Some others left the region in vehicles, obeying the orders of their commanders. A peshmerga who left the region during the attacks of ISIS was quite embarassed while sharing his feelings about it with us. He said: ‘Yes, it is true that we didn’t have the power to counter the superior weapons of ISIS, this was not a defect. But it would have been better if we had withdrawn together with the people to the mountain (meaning Mount Sinjar) rather than leaving the region. Our failure was to leave the people alone there’. Nevertheless, Kasim Seso and some peshmerga commanders of Yezidi origin accompanied the people of Sinjar and withdrew to the mountain together with their fighters”.

The report further claims that the regional administration couldn’t have send aid or had difficulties in sending aid because of the geographical location of Sinjar. The report nevertheless admits that the Yezidis were saved from massacre through a secure corridor, further admitting that the PYD played a role in the opening of the corridor. But the report also accuses the PYD in the current situation:

“In the current situation, transportation only takes place through a corridor opened in Syria between Sinjar and the Kurdistan Region. The people we have talked to stated that PYD played an important role in transporting Yezidi people from Mount Sinjar to the Kurdistan region. However, they also underlined that the PYD creates certain problems for the peshmarga. Contact with the Sinjar region is still provided through this corridor; humanitarian aid and military support are sent through the corridor”.

The report also contains some information about the situation of the refugees in the region. According to the HAK-PAR report there are 1 million 200 thousand refugees in the Federal Kurdistan Region.

The report also states that the KDP authorities describe the current situation as an “Arab-Kurdish war” and have started to use the discourse of independence more frequently.