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Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said elements linked to the PKK terrorist organization in the Sinjar area will begin handing over their weapons to the state, affirming that Sinjar Mountain will come under the full control of the federal government.
Al-Zaidi announced this while receiving a delegation from the Yazidi Cause Alliance leadership and its parliamentary bloc chairperson, MP Murad Ismael, according to a statement from the Iraqi prime minister's media office.
Al-Zaidi said PKK-linked elements would begin surrendering their weapons to the state and that Sinjar Mountain would come under the federal government's full control.
He stressed that confining weapons to state authority and unifying security decision-making are essential to Sinjar's stability, adding that Baghdad would not allow any security or military authority to operate outside the framework of the state.
Al-Zaidi said the "Sinjar Yazidi Resistance" factions would begin handing over their weapons, describing the move as part of building "a state of institutions" and protecting the unity of national decision-making.
He said confining weapons to the state and unifying security decisions form the basis for protecting Sinjar's residents, cementing its stability and securing its future.
Al-Zaidi pledged to guarantee the rights of members of the Sinjar Resistance Units and the Women's Units, saying their sacrifices would be recognized by regularizing their status and integrating qualified members into Iraqi security institutions within legal and official frameworks.
Al-Zaidi ordered that Sinjar's needs be addressed in infrastructure and reconstruction, that those affected be compensated, and that the return of displaced residents to their areas be ensured.
He also directed that Yazidis be included in a project allocating 1 million residential plots of land, and ordered the formation of a high-level committee to comprehensively assess Sinjar's security and service needs.
Al-Zaidi described Yazidis as "an authentic and important color in the spectrum of Iraq," saying this diversity represents a source of strength for Iraq and a national and human treasure, while referencing the "crimes" committed against the Yazidi community.
He said the government is moving forward in ensuring justice for Yazidis, guaranteeing their rights, returning them to their areas, and addressing the legacy of "years of terrorism and displacement."
The presence of weapons outside state authority remains one of Iraq's most prominent security and political challenges, given the existence of armed factions, some operating under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and others independently.
The Iraqi government has said it is proceeding with a plan to establish a state monopoly on the use of force according to a set timeline.
Baghdad has succeeded in persuading some PMF-affiliated factions to hand over their weapons.
Other factions, such as Kataib Hezbollah, considered the largest and most heavily armed of the groups, have refused to hand over what they describe as "resistance weapons" to the Iraqi government.
Sinjar district, home to a Yazidi-majority population, suffered destruction to its infrastructure and civilian property after Daesh seized control of it in the summer of 2014.
The area came under PKK control in 2015.
The PKK used the fight against Daesh as a pretext to expand its presence in Yazidi-majority areas of Sinjar, establishing camps in several locations, particularly on Sinjar Mountain, and bringing in armed members from Syria and the Qandil mountains starting in 2014.
On Oct. 9, 2020, the governments in Baghdad and Erbil signed an agreement providing for the removal of PKK members from Sinjar, though the agreement was never implemented.
Tensions in Sinjar escalated after the 2020 agreement, with the PKK attacking an Iraqi military vehicle in March 2021 and clashes breaking out between Iraqi forces and PKK-affiliated groups in December of that year, during which an army tank was set on fire.
Fighting flared again in April, after the group refused to vacate a checkpoint, with one Iraqi soldier killed in clashes in early May.
Sinjar sits roughly 120 kilometers from Mosul and close to the Turkish-Syrian border.
The PKK has sought to use the area to establish a corridor linking the YPG/PKK in northern Syria with the group's stronghold in Iraq's Qandil region.
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