Bloody Power Struggles continue in Disputed Territories

Amerli claimed that many Sunni Arabs remained and that those who left were “from the surrounding villages that had been under IS and who had come to the city afterward.” He went on, “Then there were retaliatory acts and so they left,” implying that the actions against the Sunni Arabs were because of perceived support for IS but refusing to comment further.

The mayor instead insisted that almost half of the city’s original inhabitants were Kurdish and that both Shiite Turkmen and Sunni Arabs had been minorities, but admitted that no exact figures are available.

“We have to rely on food ration cards and election results to even get a general idea,” he said.

Abdul Ahmed, like other Kurdish officials in the area who spoke with Al-Monitor in recent weeks, is wary of what the increasing power of the militias will mean. Nevertheless, he said, “We need the peshmerga and the PMU [Popular Mobilization Units] to stay until an ethnic balance is reached in the police force.”

An agreement between the peshmerga and the Popular Mobilization Units calls for the central government to recruit and train Kurdish police officers to address a current imbalance in favor of Shiite Turkmens.