ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Parliament’s Presidency Board on Friday called for the implementation of the Sinjar agreement and the return of displaced people to their areas on the anniversary of the city’s liberation from the Islamic State (ISIS), stressing that the Yazidi community “must decide their own destiny.”

Friday marks the 11^th anniversary of the liberation of Sinjar, when an operation by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces under the command of President Masoud Barzani ended the jihadist group’s 15-months-long reign of terror in the Yazidi heartland.

Around 500 Peshmerga fighters were killed and 3,000 wounded during the liberation of Sinjar.

Marking the anniversary, the parliament’s Presidency Board called for the “full implementation” of the Sinjar Agreement, which was signed between Erbil and Baghdad in October 2020, aimed at normalizing the situation in the Yazidi heartland.

The agreement outlined that the federal government would oversee security operations in Sinjar in collaboration with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), while Nineveh's local administration would manage public services.

It further mandated the removal of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) elements and other armed factions from the district, transferring control to the federal army and police. Over six years later, the deal has yet to be fully implemented.

“The people of Sinjar and the Yazidis must decide their own destiny, the illegal armed groups must leave the area, the displaced must return to their homeland with dignity and live in peace,” read the parliament statement, also urging proper compensation for the victims and their families.

In August, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called on the Iraqi federal government to implement the agreement, stressing the need to ensure the safe return of displaced people, citing over 20,000 Yazidi families who still live in camps.

A recent move by the PKK-affiliated all-Yazidi Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) to integrate into the Iraqi state apparatus was criticized by the Kurdistan Region authorities, who asserted that the decision was made “unilaterally” and without consulting the KRG.

“On the occasion of this anniversary, we emphasize that protecting the constitutional and national rights of our Yazidi sisters and brothers is an integral part of our program and activities in the Kurdistan Parliament,” the presidency board added.

“We will continue to convey the voice of Sinjar and the Yazidi Kurds to the world, and we condemn any attempt to exploit their cause and sacrifices for political purposes.”

ISIS militants seized control of Sinjar on August 3, 2014, launching a brutal campaign of killings, abductions, rape, and forced conversions of members of the ethnoreligious minority group. Over 5,000 Yazidis were killed in the ISIS campaign, and some 6,000 others were abducted and sold into sexual slavery. Thousands remain missing.

At least 18 countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, and Switzerland, have officially recognized ISIS' crimes against the Yazidi community as a genocide.