Sinjar (Shingal): The Case for Yazidi Autonomy

20 October 2026

Apparently, some people have already conquered Shingal. On their phones.

Erdoğan supposedly handed it over. The Kurdistan Regional Government supposedly absorbed it. The Yazidis supposedly lost their homeland. A few triumphant posts, some flags, and suddenly an entire population is expected to accept that its future has been decided.

How convenient. You announce the victory. We are supposed to disappear into the caption.

Before you celebrate any further, show us the document.

Which decision incorporated Shingal into the Kurdistan Region? Who signed it? When did it take effect? And where, in this wonderful story you are telling yourselves, did the Yazidis agree?

The official Turkish and Iraqi statement of 23 September calls for restoring Iraqi state authority in Sinjar. It also concerns the gradual transfer of the Bashiqa military base to Iraq’s federal government. It does not announce that Erdoğan has gifted Shingal to the KRG. Your celebration has run considerably ahead of your evidence.

And the current mayoral process?

Read it before turning it into another victory parade.

Applications for the position commonly described as Sinjar’s mayor, more precisely its district chief, are open until 22 October. The provincial council is receiving applications and will examine candidates’ qualifications. This is not an announced direct election in which the population votes on joining the Kurdistan Region. It is certainly not a referendum surrendering Yazidi identity. The reports reviewed for this column do not yet provide a confirmed list of applicants.

Meanwhile, Shafaq has reported political competition over local appointments involving the Babylon Movement, the Unified Nineveh Alliance and the KDP. A provincial council member has also blamed regional interference for obstructing the selection of Sinjar’s district chief. That is the reality being reported: a struggle over authority and appointments. Where is the consent of the people who actually live there?

I want to know who the candidates are. I want to know their records, their affiliations and whose interests they intend to serve. Being Yazidi matters for representation. But a Yazidi name alone is not a guarantee that someone will defend Yazidi interests.

We need representatives who can say no to the parties backing them. We need an administration that answers to residents. We do not need another person sitting in an office while somebody elsewhere holds the instructions.

My position is clear.

I want Yazidi autonomy.

I want genuine political independence and the right to decide our future.

Until that becomes possible, I favour Shingal remaining under Iraqi federal jurisdiction over incorporation into the KRG without our freely expressed consent.

Not because Baghdad has earned blind trust. It has not. Because we are entitled to demand protection as Iraqi citizens without accepting another national identity as the admission fee.

Iraq must take responsibility for us. Properly. With enforceable rights, accountable institutions and consequences when those institutions fail.

Protect our homes. Rebuild our schools. Fund our hospitals. Support survivors. Make voluntary return possible. Protect our religious sites and land. Give local Yazidis a meaningful role in security and administration.

And protect our identity with the same seriousness you claim to protect territory.

A government has not secured our future if our villages are guarded but our voices are silenced. It has not protected us if we must depend on a party connection to receive services. It has not respected us if it speaks about Yazidis internationally while allowing others to decide who we are at home.

The federal flag is not an excuse for federal neglect. If Baghdad wants authority, it must accept accountability.

The same standard applies to the KRG. If its political leaders want Yazidi trust, they can begin by respecting our right to refuse their political project. Consent means very little if it is recognised only when the answer is yes.

And to those online treating Shingal as their latest acquisition: what exactly are you proud of?

The idea that a community which survived genocide might have its future decided without being asked? The possibility that people still waiting to rebuild their lives could become a prize in another territorial contest?

That is your victory?

Shingal contains homes, graves, memories and places of worship. People are still trying to find their relatives and recover what was taken from them. Have enough decency to remember that before you turn their homeland into a scoreboard.

Some Yazidis cannot read the documents being discussed. Others face language barriers or depend on videos and voice messages for news. That makes clear, accessible reporting essential. It does not make those people stupid, and it certainly does not give anyone permission to exploit their fear.

If you spread an unsupported claim with absolute confidence, the problem is your dishonesty or your carelessness. Stop making the people who believe you carry the blame.

This criticism is aimed at those making these claims and the politics behind them. Kurdish people are not collectively responsible for every nationalist account. But a person who publicly celebrates taking our homeland should expect us to answer publicly.

Here is my answer.

We are Yazidis. Our identity is ours to define. Our political future requires our participation. Neither a party membership card nor a language gives anyone ownership of us.

I want Yazidi autonomy. Until then, I demand that Iraq protect our rights and that every political actor respect our consent.

You want to celebrate something? Celebrate Yazidis returning safely, rebuilding their homes and choosing their own representatives.

Our freedom would be a victory. Your imagined ownership of us never will be.