ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Preeminent Kurdish leader and head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, on Sunday indicated that political disagreements between Erbil and Baghdad must not come at the expense of people’s livelihoods, reiterating his firm rejection of using public employee salaries as a political tool against the Kurdistan Region.
Speaking during a meeting with tribal leaders and dignitaries from federal Iraq at the KDP’s headquarters in Pirmam, northeast of Erbil, he stated, “The livelihood of citizens cannot be politicized, nor can daily bread be used as a weapon against the people of Kurdistan,” according to a statement from his office.
The KDP’s topmost senior official stressed that effective governance in Iraq depends on implementing the constitution and upholding the principles of balance, consensus, and partnership.
Relations between Erbil and Baghdad have been strained for over a decade, beginning in late 2013 when disputes over budget allocations led the federal government to cut the Kurdistan Region’s share of the federal budget in February 2014.
In response, Erbil began independently exporting crude oil via Turkey’s Ceyhan port to generate revenue.
The unpaid salaries crisis facing Kurdistan Region civil servants worsened in 2023 after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad, finding that Ankara had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement by permitting Erbil’s independent oil exports. This ruling led to a suspension of Kurdish oil exports, deepening the Region’s budget shortfalls and delaying salary payments.
In his Sunday meeting, the preeminent Kurdish leader emphasized that the Kurdish people’s grievances are with successive governments in Baghdad, not with the peoples and communities of Iraq.
“The long-standing issues between the people of Kurdistan and the federal government do not equate to conflict with the people of Iraq,” he said. “The failed policies of those governments cannot damage the fabric of intercommunal relations. We want all of Iraq to prosper, to be rebuilt, and for the dignity of all citizens to be protected.”
This is not the first time the preeminent Kurdish leader has voiced strong criticism of Baghdad’s approach toward the Kurdistan Region in recent weeks.
Speaking at a KDP gathering in Erbil earlier this month, he called the delayed payment of salaries to KRG civil servants “unacceptable” and urged the federal government to treat the Region in accordance with Iraq’s federal constitution.
“The way that they [Baghdad] have treated civil servants in previous months is completely unacceptable,” he said, adding, “I see this as an insult to the martyrs, to the struggles of the Kurdish people, and to this nation’s history.”
The KDP leader further criticized Baghdad for dealing with the Kurdistan Region in a centralized and non-federal manner.
He also criticized what he described as Baghdad’s centralized approach, saying, “If federalism no longer exists, they should tell us. Because the current treatment of the Kurdistan Region does not reflect a federal relationship.”
The preeminent Kurdish leader lamented, “It seems as if Kurds are foreigners in this country.”
