Shafaq News / Hoshyar Zebari, a senior leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), criticized recent protests at one of Erbil's main entrances as "politicized." Speaking on X, Zebari remarked that the sit-in movement organized in Al-Sulaymaniyah is highly politicized, suggesting that demonstrators would be more effective if they relocated their protests to key public spaces in Baghdad—such as Tahrir Square or Imam Al-Qasim Street—in order to demand the timely payment of their financial entitlements. He also noted that the Regional Government has resolved the salary issue with Baghdad.
Meanwhile, dozens of individuals from Al-Sulaymaniyah gathered at the Dikala checkpoint between Erbil and Al-Sulaymaniyah, intending to enter Erbil to protest delayed salary payments. A hunger strike, now in its 13th day, along with other demonstrations in Al-Sulaymaniyah, has persisted amid ongoing delays in salary payments and rising living costs, intensifying calls for urgent government action from both the Iraqi and Kurdish authorities.
The protests occur amid a severe salary crisis in the Kurdistan Region, where unpaid public sector wages for December 2024 and January 2025 have sparked widespread unrest. The dispute stems from ongoing political tensions between the Regional Government in Erbil and the federal government in Baghdad, centering on disagreements over oil revenue sharing. While Baghdad insists that the KRG must transfer all oil production to the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), funneling revenues into the national treasury to fund salaries and production costs, Erbil contends that it should deduct production costs before remitting the remaining funds.