Latest news with #PshtiwanSadiq
Shafaq News
03-07-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
Kurdistan accuses Baghdad of failing on salary commitments
Shafaq News – Erbil On Thursday, Kurdish Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Pshtiwan Sadiq, criticized the Iraqi government's handling of funding monthly salaries for public sector employees in the Kurdistan Region. Addressing a group of religious leaders in Erbil, Sadiq noted that since 2014, Baghdad's policies have created difficulties for the people of the Kurdistan Region, highlighting that Kurdistan agreed to all federal demands, including transferring oil and non-oil revenues to Baghdad in exchange for salary payments. 'We have fulfilled our commitments, but the federal government has not honored its side of the agreement,' Sadiq noted. Sadiq also pointed to efforts by the federal government aimed at 'weakening and economically marginalizing Kurdistan', warning that opposition parties in the Region are further undermining its constitutional status. Since May, tensions have escalated between Erbil and Baghdad over the release of public sector salaries. Iraqi authorities linked disbursements to the Kurdistan Region's full transfer of oil exports to the state-run SOMO company, along with increased oversight of non-oil revenues. The Kurdish government rejected those terms as exceeding earlier agreements. The resulting deadlock has delayed salary payments for hundreds of thousands of public employees in the Region. As a temporary measure, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani authorized the payment of May's salaries through a federal loan, pending further resolution.
Shafaq News
06-06-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
KRG: Erbil engaging Baghdad and world powers to resolve salary crisis
Shafaq News/ The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is making serious efforts at both the domestic and international levels to address the public sector salary crisis, Minister of Endowment and Religious Affairs Pshtiwan Sadiq said on Friday. Speaking to reporters following Eid al-Adha prayers in Erbil, Sadiq voiced deep concern over the Iraqi government's decision to halt salary payments during the holiday. 'No government should deny its citizens their wages, especially during a sacred occasion,' he noted. Sadiq emphasized that the KRG has met all its obligations under Iraq's constitution and relevant legal frameworks, adding, 'The government is working actively, both in Baghdad and with international actors, to resolve this issue.' The remarks come amid heightened tensions following the Iraqi Ministry of Finance's decision to freeze May 2025 salary disbursements to the Region. Baghdad accuses the KRG of failing to transfer oil and non-oil revenues as mandated by the Federal Budget Law and a ruling by the Federal Supreme Court. Erbil has dismissed the accusations as politically motivated, calling the move 'unconstitutional, unlawful, and a form of collective punishment' that targets ordinary citizens. In response, representatives of civil society organizations in the Kurdish capital submitted a letter to the United Nations on Thursday, appealing for international intervention to help lift what they described as a financial siege. Also on Thursday, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani reaffirmed the KRG's commitment to defending the rights of the Kurdish people through all legal and constitutional avenues.
