DOHUK, Iraq: Thousands of people carrying flags of Iraqi Kurdistan demonstrated on Tuesday in the autonomous region over unpaid civil service salaries which they blamed on Baghdad, an AFP correspondent reported.
The protest occurred in a region where activists usually accuse local Kurdistan authorities of repressing any sign of dissent.
It came in the context of simmering tensions after protests turned violent and led to the deaths of four people on Saturday in the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk, whose control has historically been disputed between Iraqi Kurdistan and federal authorities in Baghdad.
“Kurdistan will not back down in the face of the Iraqi authorities’ hostile policies,” one banner said at the demonstration in Dohuk, the third-biggest city in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.
“Solidarity with our people in Kirkuk,” said another placard.
An administrator in a hospital, Massoud Mohamed, said he had not received a salary in two months. “We must get our rights,” the 45-year-old said. “They want to weaken our region.”
Iraqi Kurdistan has long accused Baghdad of not sending the necessary funds to pay civil servants.
Previously the region, thanks to its oil exports, had independent funding that partially covered salaries. Since the end of March it has been deprived of this resource because of a dispute with Baghdad and Turkiye, through which oil was exported.
In principle, Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad later agreed that sales of Kurdish oil would pass through the federal government. In exchange for this, 12.6 percent of the federal budget is allocated to Iraqi Kurdistan.
On Sunday, Baghdad unblocked a package of 500 billion dinars (about $380 million) for the region’s salaries, but practically double that would be needed each month, according to the government of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The violence in Kirkuk has added to tensions.
Arab and Turkmen demonstrators had staged a sit-in near the headquarters of the Iraqi security forces in Kirkuk province on August 28, after media reports that Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani had ordered the site to be handed over to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which used to occupy it.
In response, Kurdish protesters tried to reach the headquarters on Saturday, and the situation degenerated.
Four Kurds were killed.
Iraqi Kurds protest unpaid salaries from Baghdad
https://arab.news/w63jk
Iraqi Kurds protest unpaid salaries from Baghdad
- The protest occurred in a region where activists usually accuse local Kurdistan authorities of repressing any sign of dissent
- “Kurdistan will not back down in the face of the Iraqi authorities’ hostile policies,” one banner said at the demonstration in Dohuk
Syria, Kurdish forces race to save integration deal ahead of deadline
- Discussions have accelerated in recent days despite growing frustrations over delays
AMMAN/RIYADH/BEIRUT/ANKARA: Syrian, Kurdish and US officials are scrambling ahead of a year-end deadline to show some progress in a stalled deal to merge Kurdish forces with the Syrian state, according to several people involved in or familiar with the talks.
Discussions have accelerated in recent days despite growing frustrations over delays, according to the Syrian, Kurdish and Western sources who spoke to Reuters, some of whom cautioned that a major breakthrough was unlikely.
The interim Syrian government has sent a proposal to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that controls the country’s northeast, according to five of the sources.
In it, Damascus expressed openness to the SDF reorganizing its roughly 50,000 fighters into three main divisions and smaller brigades as long as it cedes some chains of command and opens its territory to other Syrian army units, according to one Syrian, one Western and three Kurdish officials.
’SAVE FACE’ AND EXTEND TALKS ON INTEGRATION
It was unclear whether the idea would move forward, and several sources downplayed prospects of a comprehensive eleventh-hour deal, saying more talks are needed. Still, one SDF official said: “We are closer to a deal than ever before.”
A second Western official said that any announcement in coming days would be meant in part to “save face,” extend the deadline and maintain stability in a nation that remains fragile a year after the fall of former President Bashar Assad.
Whatever emerges was expected to fall short of the SDF’s full integration into the military and other state institutions by year-end, as was called for in a landmark March 10 agreement between the sides, most of the sources said.
Failure to mend Syria’s deepest remaining fracture risks an armed clash that could derail its emergence from 14 years of war, and potentially draw in neighboring Turkiye that has threatened an incursion against Kurdish fighters it views as terrorists.
Both sides have accused the other of stalling and acting in bad faith. The SDF is reluctant to give up autonomy it won as the main US ally during the war, after which it controlled Islamic State prisons and rich oil resources.
The US, which backs Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and has urged global support for his interim government, has relayed messages between the SDF and Damascus, facilitated talks and urged a deal, several sources said.
A US State Department spokesperson said Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy to Syria, continued to support and facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the SDF, saying the aim was to maintain momentum toward integration of the forces.
SDF DOWNPLAYS DEADLINE; TURKEY SAYS PATIENCE THIN
Since a major round of talks in the summer between the sides failed to produce results, frictions have mounted including frequent skirmishes along several front lines across the north.
The SDF took control of much of northeast Syria, where most of the nation’s oil and wheat production is, after defeating Daesh militants in 2019.
It said it was ending decades of repression against the Kurdish minority but resentment against its rule has grown among the predominantly Arab population, including against compulsory conscription of young men.
A Syrian official said the year-end deadline for integration is firm and only “irreversible steps” by the SDF could bring an extension.
Turkiye’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said on Thursday it does not want to resort to military means but warned that patience with the SDF is “running out.”
Kurdish officials have downplayed the deadline and said they are committed to talks toward a just integration.
“The most reliable guarantee for the agreement’s continued validity lies in its content, not timeframe,” said Sihanouk Dibo, a Syrian autonomous administration official, suggesting it could take until mid-2026 to address all points in the deal.
The SDF had in October floated the idea of reorganizing into three geographical divisions as well as the brigades. It is unclear whether that concession, in the proposal from Damascus in recent days, would be enough to convince it to give up territorial control.
Abdel Karim Omar, representative of the Kurdish-led northeastern administration in Damascus, said the proposal, which has not been made public, included “logistical and administrative details that could cause disagreement and lead to delays.”
A senior Syrian official told Reuters the response “has flexibility to facilitate reaching an agreement that implements the March accord.”
