Kurdish leaders call for unity in New Year messages

[Anthea]

Kurdish leaders call for unity

Kurdish and Iraqi leaders have called for unity in their New Year messages after a year of political tensions between Erbil and Baghdad, referring to ongoing budget disputes

"It is not possible for an Iraqi citizen to hold the burden of political disputes and corruption, to the extent of manipulating their daily lives,” Iraq’s President Barham Salih said in a statement on Thursday.

“The livelihood of citizens, the salaries of the Iraqi employees, among them those of the Kurdistan Region, shall not be associated with political disputes and the scourge of corruption."

“There is no room for favoritism and flattery at the expense of the country's sovereignty, imposing the law, establishing the state’s authority and confining weapons in its hands," he added.

“It is the duty of all political forces in Kurdistan to think about the preserving the rights and constitutional and political entities of the Kurdistan Region and the federal system and work together towards it,” Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said in a Thursday statement.

“We must immediately end this political conflict and resolve our disputes.”

“As we enter the New Year, the Kurdistan Region and the world as a whole went through a tough year,” said Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

“A lot of burden has been placed on the beloved citizens of the Kurdistan Region.”

Regarding the Erbil-Baghdad agreements on the financial entitlements of the Kurdistan Region, Barzani said, “I hope that the agreement will be implemented as it is,” and urged Iraqi politicians to uphold the Region’s budget share.

“I call on all forces and political factions and the resilient people of Kurdistan to set their differences and conflicts aside,” he added.

Budget transfers to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) were halted in mid-April in a decision made by Iraq's former Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.Several delegations have visited Baghdad in attempts to resolve the issue.

In December 2019, Baghdad agreed to send Erbil a 12.67 percent share of the federal budget in exchange for 250,000 barrels of oil per day, but the deal failed to be implemented.

Iraqi MPs on November 12 passed the Fiscal Deficit Coverage Bill to approve loans for civil servant salaries in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region for the last two months of this 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 say was not in the original bill.

Erbil and Baghdad have reached a deal on Iraq’s Federal Budget Bill for the year 2021 that serves the interests of the people of the Kurdistan Region, Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said in a statement on December 22.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/31122020

[Anthea]

Time for ALL Kurds to UNITE