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Kurdistan
Gorran MP Ali Hama Saleh speaking in a press conference on December 11, 2020. Photo: screenshot
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Gorran (Change Movement) MP warned that the Kurdistan Region is headed for a “very dark period” if the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) fails to address issues, such as corruption and disputes with Baghdad, as deadly protests continue across the Kurdistan Region.
“If the KRG cares about its people, they need to announce an agreement with the Iraqi federal government – end the ongoing corruption in the oil industry, which has led to multiple ineffective and failed deals – and end the obvious smuggling going on at the border crossings,” Gorran MP Ali Hama Salih said in a Friday press conference. “If these three steps are not taken, Kurdistan is going to enter a very dark period.”
“We support every form of peaceful protest in the region,” Saleh added. “If this form of governance continues, the Kurdistan Region will face huge social instability in the coming year, from which none of us will emerge winners.”
Protests broke out last Wednesday in the city of Sulaimani, with teachers and other civil servants demanding their salaries after going unpaid for most of this year amid budget disputes between Erbil and Baghdad. Protests have taken place across numerous towns in the province, as well as in Halabja province and the Garmiyan administration. Nine protesters and one Peshmerga officer have been killed.
Saleh and three other Gorran MPs were barred from entering Sulaimani to join protests on Friday afternoon, he said in a Facebook live video.
Security forces also detained three former Gorran MPs – Abdulla Mullah Noori, Sherko Hama Amin, and Payman Izadin – in Sulaimani on Friday, Izadin’s daughter confirmed on social media.
A group of Kurdistan Parliament members called upon Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and New Generation MPs on Friday to join them in calling a parliamentary meeting to discuss the increasing violence.
Fourteen members of the Kurdistan Region’s parliament on Wednesday said they are boycotting parliamentary meetings and sessions “to draw the government's attention to the wellbeing of the people."
The MPs have collected 29 signatures and need eight more as per the parliamentary protocol in order for them to call a parliamentary meeting without the confirmation of Parliament Speaker Rewaz Fayaq, they said in a Friday press conference
“We have called MPs from PUK and New Generation to sign, but they have not responded,” Saleh added. “This is no time for ignorance.”
"We have no plans to hold a meeting if it doesn’t change people’s lives,” Fayaq said in a Thursday press conference.
Encouraging all parties to reach an understanding is “more important than parliament meetings,” she added.
The Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) on Tuesday demanded the KRG and federal government “resolve their differences in a way that ensures the fulfillment of the legitimate demands of the demonstrators.”
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Monday recognized the demonstrations as the citizen’s “legitimate right,” but urged protesters to refrain from chaos and destruction of the towns and properties” after political party offices were set alight in various towns.
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