ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Shopkeepers affected by a fire that broke out in Sulaimani on Saturday will receive financial compensation, according to an announcement from the office of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) deputy prime minister on Sunday.
Ata Mohammed, chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, stated that “all those affected” by the fire at Sulaimani’s Dara Sutawaka market “would be compensated within a week.” Mohammed made the remarks in a press conference following Talabani’s meeting with the shopkeepers.
Civil defense teams reported that 116 shops at the Dara Sutawaka market were damaged in the blaze.
“The fire caused more than 1 billion dinars (around $765,000) in damages,” Mohammed explained, adding that each shopkeeper would receive compensation based on an assessment of their losses conducted by a “special committee” assigned by Talabani.
The compensation costs will be covered by the Secretariat Office of Mam Jalal, named after the late Iraqi president and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani (1933 - 2017), Mohammed underscored. The office is chaired by Qubad Talabani who is also a senior member of the PUK.
Additionally, the Sulaimani municipality will assign a team of architects to redesign the shops, while the province’s electricity department will reconfigure the market’s electrical system to improve safety.
The fire broke out early Saturday morning in the Dara Sutawaka market, and one person has been detained in connection with the incident.
Spokesperson for the Sulaimani Police, Sarkawt Ahmad, told Rudaw on Sunday that a worker at the market had been welding the night before the fire broke out, and “he has been detained on suspicion of causing the fire.”
Fires are a recurring issue in marketplaces across the Kurdistan Region, often resulting from electrical faults and inadequate safety measures. In May, more than 100 people were injured in a large fire at the renowned Qaysari Bazaar in Erbil, which destroyed 227 of the market's 4,000 shops.
