Deputy PM Talabani questions idea of direct Baghdad-Sulaimani negotiations

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Region’s deputy prime minister has questioned Baghdad’s willingness to deal directly with Sulaimani amid ongoing Erbil-Baghdad tensions in a Sunday interview with state owned al-Sabah newspaper. 

“This topic has been suggested by certain people in some provinces, but I ask: is the federal government willing to pay one of the provinces in the Kurdistan Region directly?” said Qubad Talabani. “For example, Sulaimani’s budget is more than 400 million dollars a month. Does the government want to pay that much, considering Sulaimani does not have enough oil?”

Several leading politicians in Sulaimani province have suggested that it split from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and deal directly with Baghdad as a solution to the ongoing economic crisis, which has further frayed ties between Erbil and Baghdad.

“In case Baghdad and Erbil do not reach an agreement, there could be an additional section to the budget bill ensuring the province of Sulaimani deals with the federal government directly,” a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) member of Sulaimani’s provincial council told al-Sabah on Monday.

Talabani emphasized that Sulaimani only generates 11 percent of the Kurdistan Region’s oil production, which may leave Baghdad reluctant to enter separate talks for such little gain.

Civil servants in Sulaimani province have requested on several occasions that they receive their salaries directly from Baghdad after going unpaid for most of last year.

“Employees in the Kurdistan Region have sent requests to the Iraqi parliament asking that their salaries be sent directly from Baghdad,” Ayat Mudhafar, spokesperson for the Iraqi parliament’s Nasr coalition told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on Tuesday.

Angry over months-long delays in receiving their salaries, civil servants and their supporters staged large protests in the city of Sulaimani, beginning on December 2. The demonstrations quickly spread to other areas of the province, and to the province of Halabja. Security forces were deployed in large numbers and used tear gas, live and rubber bullets, and water cannons in an attempt to end the protests.

Nine protesters were killed, and two security force members also died – one was killed in a clash with demonstrators in Penjwen, and another died of a stroke while on duty. At least 60 people were injured.

A KRG delegation, led by Talabani, has visited Baghdad multiple times to come to a deal on the 2021 federal budget, upon which the KRG is dependent for its funds.

Iraq's Council of Ministers approved the 2021 budget bill on December 21. More than a month and a half later, the KRG has not been able to reach a deal with Baghdad on the Kurdistan Region’s share of the budget.

Baghdad failed to pass a budget in 2020 because of political turmoil, record low oil prices, and the coronavirus pandemic. In November, Iraqi lawmakers passed the Fiscal Deficit Coverage Bill approving loans to cover civil servant salaries for the last two months of the year.

The bill passed with a majority vote, despite a walkout staged by Kurdish MPs angered that Erbil is obliged to hand over an unspecified amount of oil in exchange for funds – a clause they said was not in the original bill.

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