"PKK decisions are made in Sinjar along with Qandil," said Kasım Şeşo, a senior Peshmerga figure in Mosul's Sinjar district.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Şeşo said that the PKK has controlled Sinjar's village of Hanesor since August 2014.
Saying that the terrorist organization attempts to rule Sinjar over Hanesor, Şeşo added: "Hanesor is one of the biggest headquarters of the PKK on the Iraq-Syria line. PKK decisions are taken in Hanesor along with Qandil." He also indicated that the PKK has kidnapped almost 500 children aged 16 or under in Mosul, including Sinjar. "One of the practices that PKK conducts in Hanesor is collecting tribute. The organization gains hundreds of thousands of dollars every month by collecting tribute and seizing people's properties," said Şeşo and added that selling oil is another revenue source for the PKK.
The PKK terrorist group managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in mid-2014, on the pretext that it was protecting the local Yazidi community from Daesh. Since then, the PKK has reportedly established ground in Sinjar as a new base for its logistical and command-and-control activities.
Turkey previously called on Baghdad to clear PKK terrorists from the Sinjar region to ensure the security of both countries and strengthen the territorial integrity of Iraq.
Turkey has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terror threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps are not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terror threats, particularly in Sinjar.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out attacks in Turkey. Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) also previously called the PKK's presence in Sinjar unacceptable and urged the militants to leave the area.
