Minister: Kurdistan has agreed to all of Baghdad’s demands, but it is seeking to limit the region’s economy.
Kurdistan Region Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs Pshtiwan Sadiq criticized the federal government’s handling of the region on Thursday, particularly regarding the issue of funding monthly salaries for public sector employees and workers, despite the Kurdistan Regional Government’s agreement to all Baghdad’s demands in this regard.
In a speech delivered to a group of religious leaders in Erbil, Sadiq said that Baghdad has been causing problems for the people of the Kurdistan Region since 2014.
He added that the Kurdistan Region had agreed to all federal government demands and to hand over oil and non-oil revenues in exchange for securing salaries for employees in the region. However, Baghdad was not committed to implementing the agreements and conditions it set.
The minister also pointed out that the federal government is trying to weaken and marginalize the Kurdistan Region economically.
Sadiq continued, “The opposition parties in Kurdistan are playing a detrimental role and are seeking to undermine the constitutional entity of the region. This is extremely dangerous, as any alternative to this entity would be disastrous.”
In a parallel development, the region’s Minister of Health, Saman Barzinji, said in a speech he delivered during the laying of the foundation stone for the rehabilitation of a hospital in Erbil, “We are still groaning under the financial crisis that the Kurdistan Region is experiencing.”
He added, “We hope the federal government will lift the collective punishment imposed on the people of Kurdistan and ratify the agreements as soon as possible.”
Shafaq.com