By HEVIDAR AHMED

MOUNT SHINGAL, Kurdistan Region – The recent Peshmerga fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), including the recapture of Shingal, has enhanced the position of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, a senior KDP leader said.

But Fazil Mirani, secretary of the KDP leadership, said that would not mean that the party would become arrogant.

After nearly four months, the Peshmerga forces were able to control most of the areas that had been occupied by ISIS in the beginning of August. The Peshmerga also succeeded in lifting the siege on Mount Shingal and control the vast majority of the district.

Mirani, who has spent most of the last four months on the frontlines of the Western Tigris, told Rudaw: “President (Massoud) Barzani had promised the people of Shingal that he would not rest until he could talk to them from Mount Shingal. The president delivered his promise and talked to them from the mountain.”

The operation to retake Shingal began on the December 17 under the supervision of President Barzani. After controlling 2,700 square kilometers, Peshmerga forces were able to enter Shingal on December 20.

The fall of Shingal had been blamed on the KDP, but Mirani said the party had remained patient before those accusations:

“We were very patient against the critics of those who were seeking political gains with the fall of Shingal. But our goal is to promote Kurdish unity, even with those who acted against us,” Mirani commented.

“The stronger the KDP becomes the more lenient it gets,” he said. “Our policies will be more open with regards to our relations towards other Kurdish political parties. Negotiation is the strategic point of politics. Whoever believes in himself will not run away from negotiation. It is the same case with innocent people: they are not afraid to appear before a court.”

Most Shingal Yezidis believe that the main reason for the fall of the town was that its officials were not Yezidi, and therefore were not desperate to defend the city.

“The (future) administration and security of Shingal will be handed over to Yezidis,” Mirani vowed.

“Thousands of Yezidis have joined the Peshmerga forces as volunteers. We have formed a brigade for Yezidis, its members are fighting in the frontlines right now. They are all trained and they can protect the security of Yezidi areas,” Mirani said.

“We currently have a thousand trained police officers that can be used for the protection of recently freed areas,” he concluded.

Rudaw