Speaking at a gathering, Hakim said Erbil-Baghdad relations should be “more realistic and patriotic where the dignity of the Iraqi central government and the rights of the Kurdistan Region are preserved.”
Hakim is the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council in Iraq and has in the past tried to broker a deal between the KRG and Baghdad over the many lingering disputes between the two administrations.
“The Iraqi people in Kurdistan Region have been suffering from the freezing of their salaries, the reduction of (the Iraqi government’s) assistance and support, financial barriers and internal issues,” Hakim told his followers Wednesday, calling for what he described as national reconciliation.
In 2014, after years of disputes and negotiations, Baghdad decided to withhold Kurdistan Region’s share of the Iraqi budget which almost immediately sent the Kurdish economy into recession amid a war with ISIS and plummeting prices of oil, the main source of revenue for the Kurdish government.
“Respect your historical responsibilities and avoid unpatriotic and unplanned decisions. Restore the relations between Erbil and Baghdad and the provinces based upon a federal, free and democratic Iraq,” Hakim added.
