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Nehirvan Barzani to Baghdad on 'last chance' visit to end Kurdistan Region's suffering
1/11/2025
The President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, is scheduled to head to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, tomorrow, Sunday, to participate in the "State Administration" meeting that evening, carrying with him files on the salaries of the region's employees, the budget, oil exports, the upcoming elections, and others, according to observers, who expected that this visit may be the "last chance" for Baghdad, and if permanent solutions are not reached for the outstanding issues, the Kurds may decide to withdraw from the Iraqi political process.
This is what the Kurdistan Democratic Party is threatening to do if the demands of the Kurdistan Region are not met, as party member Wafaa Mohammed says, “The meeting that brought together the Kurdish blocs and representatives of the region in Baghdad today included talk about the Kurds withdrawing from the political process if Baghdad does not abide by the agreements concluded with the Kurdistan Region and does not send its budget share and implement the agreed-upon legal articles, which are Law 140, the legislation of the Oil and Gas Law, stopping the Arabization campaigns, sending military and health aid, and other things.”
"If the Kurdish position is unified, the decision to withdraw is better than accepting the humiliation practiced by the federal government, and there will be full support from the international community for these positions, but I believe that there are veterans, leaders and senior politicians in the Shiite and Sunni components who will reach a solution with the Kurdish component, because the withdrawal of the Kurds will affect the stability of Iraq, and this is what no one wants, and in the end the best option for the Kurdish component is to withdraw if Baghdad does not respond to the demands," Mohammed explained to Shafaq News Agency.
Citizens in the Kurdistan Region are living a semi-paralyzed life, due to the expansion of the general strike in government departments, schools, universities and traffic departments, especially in Sulaymaniyah, due to not receiving salaries for months.
For years, the issue of salaries in the Kurdistan Region has not been resolved, and it has remained suspended between tension and attraction with the federal government. Every year, this controversy is renewed with the approval of the federal budget, which sets conditions on the region in exchange for receiving its share of it, the most prominent of which is the delivery of oil revenues. However, two years ago, after the region stopped exporting oil through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, the federal government converted employees’ salaries into “advances” given to the region.
Last February, the Federal Supreme Court ordered the Baghdad government to pay the salaries of Kurdistan Region employees directly, without sending them to the regional government, after months of delay in delivering salaries.
In this context, Kifah Mahmoud, writer, political researcher and media advisor to Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, says, “The Kurdistan Region’s share of the budget has not fully reached the region, and this is considered an injustice to the people of the region, in light of the political pressure to confuse the region and diminish its powers, and this contradicts the constitution.”
Mahmoud added to Shafaq News Agency, "There is a major defect in the job performance at the level of the Iraqi Ministries of Finance and Planning, so the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, will carry the salaries, budget and oil export file in the state administration meeting."
He stresses that "these problems are solved by honest intentions and not by raising slogans and positive statements, especially since the country is going through a critical phase and there are great fears for the future of Iraq."
Earlier today, the Kurdistan Regional Government, ministers and representatives of the region in Baghdad demanded that the federal government guarantee full salaries for the year 2025 without any reduction.
Government spokesman Peshwa Hawrami said during a press conference, "Baghdad has sent less than 7 percent of the financial dues to the region so far," noting that "the federal government has not sent Kurdistan's salaries for December 2024 despite making a promise to do so."
Hawrami stressed that "Baghdad does not deal with Kurdistan as a constitutional federal entity," indicating that "the regional government has handed Baghdad all statistics related to financial revenues and the number of employees in the region," noting that "Kurdistan's rights are preserved within the amendment to the draft budget law for the current year."
In this regard, Thaer Abdul-Kazem Makhif, a member of the Committee of Regions and Governorates Not Organized in a Region in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, confirmed to Shafak News Agency, "The Kurdistan Region always suffers from the financial situation and the delay of employees' salaries, and demands in every meeting to raise these problems before the federal government in order to find solutions for them."
The visit of Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani to Baghdad comes "at a sensitive time and a dangerous turning point that Iraq is going through, with mutual accusations between Erbil and Baghdad regarding the salaries of Kurdistan Region employees," according to political analyst Athir Al-Sharaa.
Al-Shara added to Shafaq News Agency, "The region says that Baghdad is not fulfilling its obligations regarding providing Kurdistan Region employees with salaries, and that cutting off citizens' food may lead to something dangerous, so Nechirvan Barzani's visit to Baghdad is the last, and if a permanent solution is not reached, the Kurds may decide to withdraw from the political process, which confirms the importance of the agreement between the governments in Baghdad and Erbil in a way that serves the interests of the Kurdish citizen and the rest of the Iraqi provinces."
The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, said in an extraordinary meeting held this morning in Erbil on the issue of employees’ salaries, that “Baghdad’s dealings with Kurdistan are not dealings with a federal region, and we have reached the conclusion that Baghdad’s behavior towards the Kurdistan Region is unjust, unfair and unacceptable, and the course of relations between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad must be corrected.”
On January 8, the Kurdistan Regional Council of Ministers confirmed that it had fulfilled its obligations in the best possible way and was continuing its efforts with the federal government to provide salaries and financial dues to the region.
The council said during a regular session in which it discussed the issue of employees’ salaries: “Unfortunately, due to the measures taken by the federal Ministry of Finance, although we are now in January 2025 and employees in other governorates of Iraq have received their December 2024 salaries, the Kurdistan Region has not received them.”
He confirmed in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency that "the Kurdistan Regional Government has resolved all issues related to the general budget and salary lists."
However, despite this, political researcher Dr. Saif Al-Saadi says, “It is not expected that these problems will be resolved. While the region presents arguments that it has committed to what is stated in the general federal budget, especially in Articles 13 and 14, by exporting oil through SOMO, a company affiliated with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, Baghdad also presents arguments that the region has not paid what is required of it in terms of imports during the previous years, which are part of the general federal budget.”
Al-Saadi added to Shafaq News Agency, "These differences are not expected to reach a solution in the coming days, especially after the honeymoon between Al-Sudani's government and the regional government ended, after the previous period witnessed a softening of the atmosphere and relative calm, especially since the country is approaching elections and the election law will be part of the round of conflict between Baghdad and Erbil and between the political class in general."
He explains, "As political parties are trying to legislate laws that suit their own dimensions and not in response to the desires of the social or popular bases, the same is the case in the region, which is looking for its interests after the Federal Court's decision to reduce the number of seats in the Kurdistan Regional Parliament, which may affect the voting weight of either the Kurdistan Democratic Party or the Patriotic Union and other emerging lists that may influence the Kurdistan Regional Government."
He added, "Therefore, during his visit to Baghdad, the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, will seek the interests of the region in having an electoral law that guarantees fair and effective participation for the Kurdistan Region, in a manner consistent with the desire of the Kurdish actor in the Iraqi Council of Representatives."
However, in contrast, Baqir al-Saadi, a representative of the State of Law Coalition led by Nouri al-Maliki, expects, during his interview with Shafaq News Agency, that the meeting of the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, with the framework in Baghdad tomorrow will lead to "resolving the region's salary crisis, in addition to discussing the upcoming elections."