ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Sunday received Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani in Erbil to discuss ongoing budget disputes between Baghdad and Erbil, as public sector employees in the Region remain unpaid for over two months. “Both sides agreed that salary issues should not be mixed with any political problems or disagreements under any circumstances,” said a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), adding that “discussions between both the regional and federal governments continue so that the issue can be resolved in the coming days.” Salary disbursements to the Kurdistan Region’s more than 1.2 million public employees have been suspended since late May after tensions between Baghdad and Erbil boiled over, with the federal finance ministry halting all budget transfers to the KRG. The ministry cited the KRG’s failure to deliver its oil to the federal government, saying that Erbil exceeded its 12.67 percent share of the 2025 federal budget. The issue has been compounded by the ongoing halt of the Region’s oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline. Shakhawan Abdullah, second deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, also attended the meeting. A statement from the Iraqi parliament said that the Sunday visit was “within the framework of discussions with leaders in Erbil on joint issues, activating cooperation between the central government and the region, resolving disputes between them.” Negotiations over resuming Kurdish oil exports have stalled since last month. The main point of contention is the volume of oil the KRG must deliver to Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO). While Baghdad insists on 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), Erbil has proposed an initial volume of 280,000 bpd, according to informed sources. Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been halted since March 2023. The stoppage followed a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration court that found Turkey had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to begin oil exports in 2014 without Baghdad’s approval. Finalizing an agreement is seen as essential to unlocking federal payments and resuming salaries for public servants in the Kurdistan Region. Sherwan Dubardani, a Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament and member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told Rudaw on Sunday that Mashhadani is also expected to meet with KDP leader Masoud Barzani.
