Group affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party hands over weapons to Iraqi authorities

The Iraqi government announced that a group of Yazidi fighters affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) handed over their weapons to the authorities to become part of the official forces, amid security cooperation with Turkey. The Sinjar Protection Units include fighters from the Yazidi minority, who were persecuted during the control of ISIS between 2014 and 2017.

The Iraqi government announced on Monday that a group of Yazidi fighters affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) handed over their weapons to the authorities to become part of the official forces, amid notable security cooperation with Turkey. The Sinjar Protection Units, based in northern Iraq for over a decade, include fighters from the Yazidi minority, who suffered widespread persecution during the control of the terrorist organization ISIS between 2014 and 2017. The group is linked to the PKK, which Ankara classifies as a "terrorist organization" and is currently engaged in complex peace negotiations after declaring its dissolution last year following a decades-long armed conflict. Iraqi military spokesman Sabah al-Numan said in a statement that "today, the ceremony for the military disengagement of the Sinjar Protection Units and their integration into official Iraqi institutions will take place, and security responsibility in Mount Sinjar will be transferred to federal authorities." He noted that this falls within the framework of the Iraqi government's approach to controlling the weapons of groups operating outside the state. The group, according to the Kurdish news agency Firat, confirmed reaching an agreement with the federal government regarding the end of the independent military affiliation of its forces, the Sinjar Resistance Units and the Sinjar Women's Units, which numbered 4,165 fighters.