ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A Yazidi lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament on Wednesday condemned recent remarks by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan about the ethnoreligious community’s heartland of Sinjar, asserting that the town is exclusively an Iraqi sovereign matter.

In a Monday interview with CNN Turk, Fidan said that the Yazidi town of Sinjar will “witness changes in the near future,” noting that after a military operation in Syria targeting Rojava (northeast Syria), “the Iraqi phase” will follow. 

Murad Ismael, a Yazidi-Iraqi lawmaker and activist, slammed his remarks, asserting that Sinjar does not concern Turkey. 

“We categorically reject the recent statements made by the Turkish Foreign Minister regarding Sinjar, as Sinjar poses no threat to Turkey,” Ismael wrote on X, stressing that Sinjar is “an exclusively Iraqi sovereign matter and must be addressed solely within Iraq’s constitutional and national legal frameworks.”

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) affiliated Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) remain active in the Sinjar and have assumed an important role in fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Yazidi-populated areas during the organization’s reign of terror.

Turkish authorities have repeatedly warned against the existence of the unit in Iraq, claiming it poses a threat to Ankara’s national security.

“The security challenges in Sinjar must be resolved internally,” Ismael argued, “We will work with the relevant Iraqi state authorities to integrate local Yazidi forces into official security institutions.”

Ankara has conducted numerous airstrikes in the town, often targeting YBS bases under the pretext of countering terrorist elements.

Baghdad and Erbil signed the Sinjar Agreement in October 2020, with UN support, to stabilize the town by introducing a new administration and security structure to facilitate the return of the displaced Yazidis.

The agreement mandated the removal of the PKK elements and other armed factions from the district, transferring control to the federal army and police. However, several years after its ratification, the Iraqi government has yet to enact this agreement.

“Our objective is to ensure full state control, safeguard the security of the area, and prevent the recurrence of any threats to the region,” Ismael concluded.

In March, armed clashes broke out on Tuesday evening between the Iraqi army and the YBS in the center of Sinjar, with injuries reported on both sides. The two sides have previously engaged in clashes over who should control the Yazidi heartland and its surroundings.