A Kurdistan Parliament meeting requested by Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani drew to a close at 8 pm on Monday evening, ten hours after it began.

Discussed at the meeting were some of the most pressing issues facing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), including economy woes, Erbil-Baghdad relations, and the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the reforms made by Barzani’s cabinet to eradicate ghost employees and double salaries.

At least 98 of the Kurdistan Parliament's 111 members asked questions at the meeting.

A “more detailed” report on today's meeting will be submitted to the legislature at a later date, Barzani said.
Continue Reading

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has formed a committee to investigate and “terminate” widespread goods smuggling at Kurdistan Region border crossings, a KRG spokesperson told Rudaw from outside the Kurdistan Parliament building on Monday.

“A committee has been formed as per a decision by the Council of Ministers, to study the situation in detail. This so-called smuggling definitely exists at border crossings - not at one specific border crossing, but all those present in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” said Samir Hawrami, spokesperson for Kurdistan Region deputy prime minister Qubad Talabani.

PM Masrour Barzani, Talabani and other members of a KRG delegation were hosted by parliament on Monday to discuss the Region’s issues, upon Barzani’s request.

Barzani told parliamentarians that smuggling takes place both in Iraqi federal government and KRG-controlled areas.

“We have discussed it with Iraqi government for a long time," the Kurdistan Region premier said. 

"Some border crossings are better than others, but generally, ones in the Kurdistan Region are much better than those in other parts of Iraq,” he said, adding that Baghdad has promised to tackle smuggling at the crossings it controls.

“It is true that sometimes businessmen have tried to import goods to the Region, but the Region’s instructions [for border crossings] have compelled them to bribe [officials] or do other things at other border crossings to illegally import the goods.”

A network that smuggled hundreds of millions of dinars worth of goods into the Kurdistan Region through the Parvizkhan crossing at the Iraq-Iran border was uncovered last month, after an investigation by the Kurdistan Region's finance ministry and customs directorate.
Continue Reading

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani reiterated a warning of demographic change in the disputed territory of Kirkuk in his address to parliament on Sunday.

"The Arabization policy is very intensely ongoing unfortunately," warned the premier, who has on several other occasions noted the demographic change against the Kurdish populations of Kirkuk.

"The Kurdistan Regional Government on a daily basis is in talks with the relevant Iraqi government authorities on all the conducts done against the [indigenous] populations of the disputed areas in an effort to stand in the way of the Arabization policy," he said, adding in the near future a KRG delegation will visit Baghdad on this matter.

A concerted effort under former President Saddam Hussein, mostly between 1970 and 1978, brought Arabs from elsewhere in Iraq to the disputed area of Kirkuk. After 2003, however, Iraq began a policy of de-Arabization to reverse the demographic changes.

Within the framework of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, land was returned to the previous Kurdish inhabitants. But since 2017, when Kurds lost the military and administrative ruling of the province to a major military incursion by the Iraqi forces, there have been reports of Arab settlers reclaiming these lands.

"The resolution of this issue comes with the implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution,” added the premier.

Barzani said the Iraqi government has not yet responded to a proposal sent to them detailing mechanisms of resolving the long-standing disputed territories issues.

"Therefore what deeply concerns us is the continued policy of Arabization in the Kurdistani areas," Barzani said, explaining that the move is done is a "systematic way".

"This act is the repeat of what the previous Iraqi regimes were doing," he added.

Kirkuk is disputed between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and is home to Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, and Christian inhabitants. Other disputed territories lie in the provinces of Nineveh, Diyala and Salahaddin.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution was supposed to have resolved the issue of the disputed provinces by 2007, but successive governments have failed to implement the steps outlined in the provision.

The province's southern district of Daquq, and the town of Sargaran west of Kirkuk city have been the flashpoint of ongoing Arabization efforts since October 2017.
Continue Reading

The Iraqi deficit will contribute to a reduced share of the federal budget, says Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

"The Iraqi government will send funds that are far less than the constitutional financial entitlements of the Kurdistan Region," he said on Monday’s address to parliament, referring to a temporary deal agreed to in mid-August. 

The Kurdish government is deep in talks with Baghdad, hoping to cement a once-and-for-all agreement over the budget and oil.

Barzani says the Iraqi government has informed them that they are at a 60% deficit in 2020, with expenses at 148 trillion dinars, while revenues only at 67 trillion.

"This deficit has unfortunately led to the reduction of the Region's share," he said. 

According to the temporary deal, the federal government should be sending 320 billion dinars ($268 million) per month in order for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to pay its civil servants for August, September, and October. However, Baghdad has not yet sent the funds.
 
"Since the beginning of the commencement of our work, we have tried to build a good and constructive relationship with the federal government in Baghdad and it has been one of the priorities of the agenda of the ninth cabinet of the KRG," Barzani said. 

Barzani said his government has shown "goodwill" that it intends to resolve all the pending oil, budget and disputed territories issues on the basis of the constitution.   
Continue Reading

The politicization of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) coronavirus measures has led to the spike in virus numbers, claims Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. 

"It is clear that the KRG, since the onset of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, took protective and precautionary measures. The successful experience of the KRG government in combating coronavirus... was praised by the World Health Organization, many other organizations," Barzani said as he provided an update on his government’s coronavirus response during a speech to parliament on Monday. 

"But unfortunately, some people instead of assisting and supporting the government's steps to protect society, attempted to tarnish the government's plans and politicized the matter. Eventually due to the lack of [public] commitment to the health instructions, today corona is on the rise day by day and has become a serious threat to public health," Barzani added.

To combat coronavirus, the government has earmarked 28 billion dinars for self-protection measures, increased testing.

The government has allocated more than 40 facilities to taking in coronavirus patients across the Region.

"The government carries out 5,000 tests on a daily basis. So far, nearly half a million tests have been conducted across 28 various labs" the premier said.

Coronavirus cases have exceeded 50,000 in the Kurdistan Region, health officials announced on Sunday evening, including over 1,800 deaths.

Almost all government-imposed movement restrictions in the Kurdistan Region have been lifted.

The KRG health ministry has said it will reimpose measures designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus in Duhok, as the province struggles to cope with a surge in cases and fatalities.

The health ministry's spokesperson said on Sunday that measures will for now be limited to Duhok, the Kurdistan Region province currently worst hit by the outbreak.

"There is not yet a plan to impose a nationwide curfew, but we will be tightening health regulations in Duhok province as infections and deaths in the province have gone up," spokesperson Dr. Aso Hawezi told Rudaw.
Continue Reading

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is in poor standing to pay off what Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced as $28.4 billion in debt and financial commitments. This is in part due to a lack of financial reserves, as well as the budget cuts from the federal government, stated the PM during an address to parliament Sunday morning.

According to Barzani's breakdown of the financial situation, the Kurdistan Region's debts and financial commitments are as follows; the total amount of debts - from domestic and foreign - stands at $7.256 billion, as well as $3.916 billion to Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) and Kurdistan International Bank.

The Kurdistan Region's financial commitments stand at $8.337 billion. This is in addition to the civil servant employee salaries and pensions owed since the economic crisis first gripped the Region in 2014, which now stands at $8.966 billion.

"The Kurdistan Regional Government does not possess any amount of money in reserve and we rely on Baghdad. Therefore, during any crisis, we face problems," noted Barzani.

"This severe financial crisis is not made by the regional government. This is an issue that has gripped the whole world. We have no other choice, but to cope with it," added the PM, referring to the coronavirus pandemic and the global decline in oil prices.

Barzani says his government has done its best to pay the salaries of civil servants and pensions.

"We have been able to pay 12 [months of] salaries of the civil servants," PM Barzani said, adding that only the salaries of May, June and July have not been paid.

“This is because we have not received it from the Iraqi government," Barzani added.

The existing government cabinet has been in place since July 2019.

Continue Reading

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has arrived at the Region’s parliament to address lawmakers about a range of hot-button issues, including reforms, finances, and talks with Baghdad.

Barzani will speak to parliament about “the implementation of the reform agenda of the 9th cabinet, the course of talks with the Iraqi government, and analyzing the current health and financial situations of the Kurdistan Region and the implications of the spread of the coronavirus," according to a statement from his media office.  Continue Reading