Nechirvan Barzani Urges Striking Teachers and Employees to Prioritize Health, End Strike
Peregraf
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani has urged striking teachers and government employees in Sulaymaniyah to prioritize their health and conclude their strike, as protests regarding unpaid salaries escalate.
“I am closely observing the situation of the teachers and employees who have been on hunger strike in Sulaimaniyah for several days, advocating for a resolution to the salary issue,” Barzani stated in a public address. “The demand for salary resolution is legitimate, and we fully support it.”
Barzani highlighted the significant efforts made by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Kurdistan Presidency in collaboration with the Iraqi federal government to establish a sustainable financial framework. “The amendments to the federal budget law have been approved, and there is optimism for a conclusive resolution regarding the salaries and financial rights of the Kurdistan Region,” he noted.
He recognized the concerns of teachers and public sector employees, affirming that their message has been communicated to the appropriate authorities. “I urge them to consider their health and to cease the strike,” Barzani remarked, assuring that the Kurdistan Region will persist in its efforts to achieve a lasting solution with Baghdad.
In the meantime, protests in Sulaimaniyah have intensified, with hundreds of teachers participating in the strike, which has now extended beyond a week. Demonstrators are calling for the integration of their salaries into Iraq’s Tawteen banking system, asserting that this would provide more reliable payments compared to the KRG’s Hazhmari Mn system. Their demands also encompass the payment of overdue wages, including those for December 2024, as well as the resumption of job promotions that have been on hold since 2014.
A coalition of educators and government employees has been conducting a sit-in outside the United Nations office in Sulaimaniyah for the past week, appealing for intervention from international organizations. At least twelve individuals among the protesters have initiated a hunger strike, subsisting solely on water, tea, and coffee, as their health condition visibly declines. Medical teams are actively monitoring the hunger strikers, while their representatives have called for widespread public involvement in forthcoming demonstrations.
As salary delays continue without a definitive resolution from the KRG, the protests show no indication of diminishing, raising alarms about the ongoing disruption of public services and the exacerbating economic crisis in the Kurdistan Region.