- Title: Kurds protest in Sulaimaniya city aginst regional government, demand salaries
- Date: 27th September 2016
- Summary: SULAIMANIYA, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS MARCHING IN STREET CARRYING BANNERS READING "TEACHERS AND PESHMERGA ARE STANDING AGAINST YOU" MORE OF PROTESTERS CARRYING BANNER MARCHING IN STREET VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS PROTESTERS MARCHING OVER BRIDGE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SALAR BASIDA, UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR, SAYING: "This protest is against the government and against the policy of the parties who care only for their personal interests and the interests of their parties and ignore the living conditions of the state workers' salaries." (REPORTER QUESTION: When was the last time you received a salary?) "It's six or seven months since we received our salaries. We did not even receive part of our salaries and if the current situation continues, I think that the protest would be turned into an uprising or even a revolution." RIOT POLICE KEEPING WATCH OVER PROTEST RIOT POLICE HOLDING SHIELDS SURROUNDING PROTEST PROTESTERS MARCHING IN STREET HOLDING KURDISTAN FLAG, CHANTING AGAINST KURDISTAN GOVERNMENT PROTESTERS MARCHING PROTESTERS IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) OMAR INAYET, MEMBER OF KURDISH PARLIAMENT, SAYING: "There is no transparency in the issue of oil revenues and also the salaries of employees and paying money for the projects. More than 4,000 projects in Iraq's Kurdistan have come to a halt and also most of the activities of the government offices. People are protesting today to demand their rights which were usurped by government of Kurdistan Region of Iraq." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS BANNER READING (Kurdish) “Bankrupt government. Where is the people's money?" PLACARD RAISED BY WOMAN PROTESTER READING (Kurdish) "Who are the bankrupt government, you or Baghdad government? Because of you, they (Baghdad government) cut our salaries. You do not have certificates and you are not politicians. You are a bunch of Mafia" PLACARD RAISED BY PROTESTER READING (English) "Yesterday mountaineers became today oil stealers and pickpocketers” PROTESTERS CHANTING "ABADI, ABADI"
- Embargoed: 12th October 2016 15:04
- Keywords: Kurds protest government living conditions salaries
- Location: SULAIMANIYA, IRAQ
- City: SULAIMANIYA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00151CFHVR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: More than five thousand Kurds demonstrated in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya on Tuesday (September 27) demanding public salaries be paid and an urgent solution to the economic slump in the autonomous region.
Carrying placards and banners denouncing the policies of the regional government of Kurdistan region of Iraq, protesters warned that peaceful protests could turn to revolution as peoples patience wore thin.
"This protest is against the government and against the policy of the parties who care only for their personal interests and the interests of their parties and ignore the living conditions of the state workers' salaries," said University Professor Salar Basida.
"It's six or seven months since we received our salaries. We did not even receive part of our salaries and if the current situation continues, I think that the protest would be turned into an uprising or even a revolution," Basida added.
Shouting slogans against Kurdish politicians whom they described as gamblers and Mafia, protesters chanted slogans in support of Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
A decade-long economic boom in the autonomous region came to an abrupt halt in 2014 when Baghdad slashed funding to the Kurds after they built their own oil pipeline to Turkey and began exporting oil independently.
That left the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) struggling to meet a bloated public payroll of 875 billion Iraqi dinars ($800 million) per month.
The KRG has tried to make up the shortfall by increasing independent oil sales to around 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), but at current prices the region is still left with a monthly deficit of 380-400 billion Iraqi dinars ($717 million).
"There is no transparency in the issue of oil revenues and also the salaries of employees and paying money for the projects. More than 4,000 projects in Iraq's Kurdistan have come to a halt and also most of the activities of the government offices. People are protesting today to demand their rights which were usurped by government of Kurdistan Region of Iraq," Kurdish MP Omar Inayet said.
The war against Islamic State and an influx of more than a million people displaced by violence in the rest of Iraq has only compounded the crisis, which is also the result of years of mismanagement and corruption since 2003's U.S.-led invasion.
Protests against delayed salaries in October 2015 turned violent and deepened a political crisis that has yet to be resolved. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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