Shafaq News / A government official in Nineveh Governorate revealed, on Thursday, that the Iraqi government is paying salaries to more than a thousand members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Sinjar district, the stronghold of the Yazidi Kurds, west of Nineveh. 

The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Shafaq News agency, "The Iraqi government pays salaries to more than 1,000 PKK members, all of whom are Iraqi citizens", indicating that, "these salaries have been paid since the era of Al-Maliki's government".

The source added, "the current prime minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, refuses to continue paying the salaries of the PKK. He also expressed his intention to put an end to this issue".

Former MP and the head of the Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress, Haj Kandour al-Sheikh, told Shafaq news agency, "I have no evidence that proves that the salaries of the PKK members were paid by any party from the Iraqi government", adding, "The salaries may be paid through Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi for 'Yazid Khan' groups, which belong to Al-Hashd. but we do not have any details about this file yet".

The PKK had established a stronghold in Sinjar district in the past few years, during the war against ISIS, and formed factions there under the name of "Sinjar Protection Units".

Despite the repeated calls from Kurdistan Region, the PKK refuses to withdraw from Sinjar and other areas on the border areas with Turkey, as Ankara uses their presence as an argument to launch violent attacks in those areas.