During a speech on Thursday, President Masoud Barzani emphasized that the way Baghdad treats the civil servants in the Kurdistan Region is not acceptable.

“The way they have behaved with salaries, with the Kurdish nation, with the people of Kurdistan, in previous months is unacceptable,” President Barzani stated.

“I know this is an insult to the blood of the martyrs, to the struggle of the Kurdish people, to the proud history of this nation. If you have dignity and will, there is always money, but if you don’t have dignity and will, what value does money have? This must be resolved, and no one can say every month that so-and-so signed or didn’t sign, agreed or disagreed.”

A significant part of the population in the Kurdistan Region depends mainly on government salaries for their livelihood. Since January 2014, salary payments have often been delayed or only partially paid by the Iraqi government after the Kurdistan Region started independent oil exports, which Baghdad opposed.

Moreover, the financial situation of the people in the Kurdistan Region further worsened when Kurdistan Region’s oil exports through the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline were suspended in March 2023 after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled against independent oil exports.

President Barzani reiterated that the Iraqi Kurds went to Baghdad in 2003 with full sincerity and called on Baghdad to accept the federal status of the Kurdistan Region, at the same time asking some Kurdish political parties to not undermine federalism in Iraq.

“I expected that those who now rule in Baghdad would protect the rights of the Kurdish nation,” he said.

“If the Iraqi state does not uphold partnership and constitutional commitments, it is impossible to sustain unity,” he further stated.

“Baghdad must deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) according to the law,” he added. “Last October, elections were held, and the elections showed the position of all parties clearly. If some people, for whatever reason, feel dissatisfied, they can file complaints, protest, or appeal, and treat them accordingly. This is a violation of the Constitution.

“The Kurdistan Region is a federal region according to the Constitution, and what the Constitution has given to the region should not be interfered with. If there is a problem, the region has its own Parliament, which should hold the government accountable.

“According to the Constitution, no court or federal body has the right to interfere in the region. If the KRG acts against the Constitution and laws, the Kurdistan Region Parliament should hold that government accountable.”