ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Civil servants in Kirkuk fiercely oppose a decision by the central government to cut salaries to fund the military and its allied Shiite militia, noting that security in their strategic city comes from the Kurdish Peshmerga. Iraq’s severely cash-strapped government has issued a decree saying that civil servants nationwide will lose three percent of their salaries, which will go to pay the military and fighters of its allied Hashd al-Shaabi militia. But Kirkuk, a disputed and multi-ethnic oil-rich city where the Kurds have traditionally competed for power with the Arab government in Baghdad, has been under Peshmerga protection. It was abandoned by Iraqi forces when the Islamic State (ISIS) launched its blitzkrieg across Iraq in June 2014. Authorities in Kirkuk are defiant over the decree, saying their protection has come from the Peshmerga, not any other force. "The Peshmerga defend us in Kirkuk. That is why we think the benefit must go to them, not another force," a Kirkuk employee told Rudaw. Civil servants in Kirkuk have urged the city's authorities to stand against the decree. They say they are not angry at the amounts to be cut from their salaries, but that it will go to fund forces that are not offering any benefits to Kirkuk. "I disagree with the decree,” Rebwar Talabani, head of the Kirkuk Provincial Council, told Rudaw. "We disagree with this decision, and the cuts from the salaries should go to the Peshmerga, not the Hashd al-Shaabi," he added. "It is they who defend Kirkuk," he said, explaining that the case of Kirkuk was different from other cities in Iraq. Some 80,000 employees in Kirkuk who are paid by the central government expect the salary cuts to go ahead, unless their opposition is heard.
