Nearly 500 Yezidis have abandoned PKK: Peshmerga Commander
Kurdish PKK guerrilla. File photo.
Erbil (BasNews) Some 484 Yezidi members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have left the party and joined Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Peshmerga forces, said a Peshmerga commander.
During an interview with the Turkish Anadolu agency on Sunday, Luqman Gli, a commander of Peshmerga, said these new recruits have been receiving training since March.
According to the official, they left PKK following the events in Khanasor parish of Sinjar.
On March 3, 2017, clashes erupted between Peshmerga and PKK affiliated guerrillas in Sinjar which ended with some causalities.
Since the restoration of a relative security in Sinjar and its surroundings, KRG has been calling on PKK to withdraw from the area but the Kurdish party from Turkey is buttressing its stance by recruiting locals in its newly founded units.
In earlier reports, officials from Sinjar told BasNews, Yezidi people, who mainly reside in Sinjar and its vicinity, no longer trust PKK.
The reports also indicated that so far almost 650 Yezidis have abandoned the PKK ranks.