by VAGER SAADULLAH

When Islamic State launched a full-scale attack on Kurdish territory last summer, it caught Kurdish forces by surprise. The Peshmerga’s hasty retreat exposed Iraq’s religious minorities—especially Yezidis—to the jihadi group’s religious cleansing campaign.

Thousands fled to nearby Mount Sinjar for safety. To rescue the civilians, guerrillas with the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, and the People’s Protection Units, known as the YPG, pushed into Iraq from Syria.

Kurdish forces fighting together against Islamic State has inspired Kurds all over the region. The PKK fighters are still working openly in Iraq, but their presence is becoming controversial.

The PKK is a radical left-wing nationalist party the United States and Turkey both consider a terrorist organization.

Some Kurds see the guerrillas’ role as an example of Kurdish unity in the face of an existential threat from Islamic State. Others complain that the PKK doesn’t cooperate with Iraqi Kurdish authorities—and is trying to exploit the war for its own political agenda.

At the same time, PKK officials complain the Iraqi Kurds don’t cooperate with them. To complicate the drama even more, if the PKK suddenly left Iraq, it could expose deep political divisions many Kurds are not ready to acknowledge.

To be sure, PKK and YPG fighters played an important role opening a corridor to Mount Sinjar. The move allowed thousands of refugees to escape the mountain to safety in Syria.

During last summer’s fighting, PKK guerrillas also moved south to Mahkmur, Kirkuk, Jalawla and Saadia. They even went as far south as Shekhan near the Yezidi Temple in Lalish.

In its official media outlets, the PKK claimed it sent fighters to protect the Yezidis’ holy temple.

But the fight between Kurdish forces and Islamic State was far from the temple, and Duhok’s governor said the PKK came to the region without notifying officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The PKK didn’t need to defend the holy site, anyway. Yezidi Peshmerga fighters in Shekhan said there’s no danger to the temple.

The governor asked the PKK to leave Shekhan, and the guerrillas complied, but are still fighting beside Peshmerga in other areas. At a recent funeral of a PKK militant killed during an Islamic State attack on Kirkuk, these latent tensions spilled out into the open.

“We are discussing withdrawing our guerrillas from the south,” PKK executive committee member Murat Karayilan said Feb. 7 during a ceremony in Qandil. “We stress that the KRG should change its attitude toward the guerrillas.”