Iraqi television films PKK camps in Sinjar

By Haydar Hadi

BAGHDAD

A Kirkuk-based television has filmed training camps of the PKK terrorist group in northern Iraq’s Sinjar district, according to the channel’s director-general.

"It was a national duty to reveal to the truth to the public,” Yalman Haceroglu, the director-general of Turkmeneli TV, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

He said his television has shot the PKK camps in “very difficult conditions” and amid countless threats.

Haceroglu said PKK activities in the area were hidden from the public.

"One of our cameramen was allowed by PKK members to shoot around after being interrogated for an hour,” he said.

"Our primal goal was to uncover the truth and inform the public,” he said, going on to remind that Turkmeneli TV had previously filmed PKK presence in Kirkuk.

“We also wanted to show the truth to the Iraqi authorities, who reject Turkey’s assertions about the PKK presence in the district,” he said.

Haceroglu said a PKK member has told the channel that there were around 3,000 PKK terrorists in the area, where they are being trained by several military experts.

"We published our story both in Turkish and Arabic. It was largely covered in Iraq,” he said.

“After airing our report, the head of the Mosul provincial assembly admitted the PKK presence in Sinjar.”

On Sunday, Iraqi troops were deployed in Sinjar after members of the PKK terrorist group had withdrawn from the district one day earlier.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stressed that his country would not allow Sinjar to become a stronghold for the PKK, which established a presence there in 2014 on the pretext of fighting the Daesh terrorist group.

The issue is now reportedly the subject of discussions between Iraqi and Turkish officials.

In late 2015, Peshmerga forces loyal to northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government retook Sinjar from Daesh.