Iraq News Now

Shafaq News/ On Saturday, KurdistanRegion (KRI) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called the Iraqi government’streatment of the Region “unjust,” urging political parties to unite.

Shafaq News correspondent reportedthat the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) held an extraordinary meeting inErbil, the Region's capital, with representatives of the KRG in Baghdad andheads of Kurdish blocs to “address the issue of employee salaries and financialentitlements,” referring to the delay in salary disbursements by the federalgovernment.

During the meeting, Barzaniaddressed the attendees, stating, "As representatives of the KurdistanRegion, your primary responsibility is to represent all its people, followed byrepresenting the political forces and parties," while emphasizing that"Baghdad's treatment of the KRI does not align with that of a federalentity."

Barzani also remarked, "We haveconcluded that Baghdad’s treatment of the KRI is unjust, unfair, andunacceptable... I believe that if we are united, Baghdad will not have thepower to impose anything on Kurdistan. However, this imposition has occurreddue to the division among political parties."

"The course of relationsbetween the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad needs to be redefined."

Regarding the Federal Court'sdecisions on the KRI's salaries and financial entitlements, the PM affirmedthat the federal government "will not abide by the Federal Court's rulingsif they benefit the Kurdistan Region," stressing, "They have turnedall of Kurdistan into an issue of salaries, reducing a century of Kurdishsacrifices and struggles to mere salaries, and they have succeeded."

Understanding the Salaries Issue

For years, the salary issue in theRegion has remained unresolved due to ongoing disputes with the federalgovernment. Each year, the debate resurfaces with the approval of the federalbudget, which imposes conditions on the Region in exchange for its share,primarily the handover of oil revenues. However, in the past two years, afterthe Region halted oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, the federalgovernment began providing salaries as "loans."

In February, the Federal SupremeCourt ordered the Baghdad government to directly pay the salaries of theKurdistan Region’s employees instead of sending them to the Kurdistan RegionalGovernment after several months of salary delays.

Prime Minister Mohammed ShiaAl-Sudani had previously instructed the Iraqi Ministry of Finance to pay theKurdistan Region's employees' October 2024 salaries, but this has not beendone.

In Parliament, he confirmed that thesalary issue is not political and that the Kurdistan Region has not compliedwith any clause of the Budget Law. He also stated that no transfer would bemade for the Region's salaries, and only 760 billion dinars (approximately 608million USD) would be paid, as the Region's fixed share is 12.67%.