ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Erbil security forces on Sunday blocked striking teachers flocking to Erbil from Sulaimani to protest the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) inconsistent salary disbursements in the past decade.
Security forces stopped the protesters at the Degala checkpoint, located between Erbil and Sulaimani. They planned to march to the Kurdistan Region’s capital to protest outside the United Nations compound. Notably, teachers in Sulaimani have also set up a camp outside the UN headquarters in the city, where they have been on a hunger strike for the past 12 days.
The striking teachers are demanding a resolution to the ongoing unpaid salaries crisis, as many have yet to be reimbursed for many months of work over the past decade. Despite what they describe as minimal support from Erbil and Baghdad, the protestors say they are adamant about securing their rights.
Rudaw on Sunday documented the security forces’ use of tear gas and deployment of a water cannon truck to push back the demonstrators at the Degala checkpoint.
A representative of the striking teachers, Dilshad Mirani, told Rudaw that they are determined to continue the strike until their demands are met. He emphasized, “We reject all the rumors claiming we will end our strike.”
Several of the teachers who are on hunger strike in the Sulaimani camp are refusing to receive medical assistance, even as their conditions worsen. Some have been rushed to hospitals for urgent care.
The Kurdistan Region’s interior ministry has accused “foreign and domestic” parties in Iraq - including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - of trying to exploit the demonstrations. In a statement it issued on Sunday, the ministry confirmed that it is in contact with the federal government in Baghdad to resolve the outstanding salaries crisis.
“What is remarkable is that a number of foreign and domestic parties in Iraq want to use the demands [of the protestors] for their own suspicious purposes. Some backward and outlaw parties, [such as the] PKK, and others are trying to make use of the situation to disrupt the [Kurdistan] Region’s security,” the ministry said. It further cautioned that such actions undermine the “legitimate demands of the employees.”
Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw accused "ill-intentioned" actors of fueling the protests, saying that it is Baghdad, not Erbil, that is oppressing the Kurdistan Region’s civil servants.
“Teachers, salaried employees, and all of the people in the Kurdistan Region are dissatisfied, but their dissatisfaction is with Baghdad. Baghdad is oppressing us,” Khoshnaw said in a presser on Sunday.
He condemned the Iraqi government for backing the protestors’ camp charging that Arabs, who neither work nor live in the Kurdistan Region, have been bussed to the Degala checkpoint to protest. He stressed that they would not be allowed entry into Erbil.
“Those in Baghdad who proposed to scale back the salaries [of civil servants] and the budget of the Kurdistan Region are now backing the [protestors’] camp and shedding crocodile tears,” he continued.
The Iraqi federal government and the KRG have held several meetings to discuss amendments to the 2025 federal budget law and address the obstacles hindering the payment of civil servant salaries in the Kurdistan Region. The KRG has been working to redirect funds from its share of the federal budget to address the salary shortfalls that have persisted throughout last year.
Of note, the KRG’s hardship was further exacerbated after oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline were suspended in March 2023. The Iraqi legislature passed a bill that allows the resumption of Kurdish oil exports, a move expected to boost Iraq’s income and increase the budget allocated to the Kurdistan Region by Baghdad.
