Kurdish PM Barzani: Baghdad succeeded in turning Kurdistan into a salary issue

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

Shafaq News correspondent reported that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) held an extraordinary meeting in Erbil, the Region's capital, with representatives of the KRG in Baghdad and heads of Kurdish blocs to “address the issue of employee salaries and financial entitlements,” referring to the delay in salary disbursements by the federal government.

During the meeting, Barzani addressed the attendees, stating, "As representatives of the Kurdistan Region, your primary responsibility is to represent all its people, followed by representing the political forces and parties," while emphasizing that "Baghdad's treatment of the KRI does not align with that of a federal entity."

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

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

Regarding the Federal Court's decisions on the KRI's salaries and financial entitlements, the PM affirmed that the federal government "will not abide by the Federal Court's rulings if they benefit the Kurdistan Region," stressing, "They have turned all of Kurdistan into an issue of salaries, reducing a century of Kurdish sacrifices and struggles to mere salaries, and they have succeeded."

Understanding the Salaries Issue

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

In February, the Federal Supreme Court ordered the Baghdad government to directly pay the salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s employees instead of sending them to the Kurdistan Regional Government after several months of salary delays.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani had previously instructed the Iraqi Ministry of Finance to pay the Kurdistan Region's employees' October 2024 salaries, but this has not been done.

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