Until recently protests had been confined to opposition-controlled areas of the Kurdistan Region. On Sunday protesters gathered in the capital Erbil, a stronghold of the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party. Safin Hamed / AFP
Until recently protests had been confined to opposition-controlled areas of the Kurdistan Region. On Sunday protesters gathered in the capital Erbil, a stronghold of the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party. Safin Hamed / AFP
Until recently protests had been confined to opposition-controlled areas of the Kurdistan Region. On Sunday protesters gathered in the capital Erbil, a stronghold of the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party. Safin Hamed / AFP
Until recently protests had been confined to opposition-controlled areas of the Kurdistan Region. On Sunday protesters gathered in the capital Erbil, a stronghold of the leading Kurdistan Democratic P

Iraqi Kurdish authorities use force to contain public discontent


  • English
  • Arabic

Kurdish officials in northern Iraq on Monday struggled to contain public discontent over unpaid salaries and claims of corruption, using force and tear gas to break up peaceful protests across the region.

Until recently protests had been confined to opposition-controlled areas of the Kurdistan Region. But for the first time on Sunday, protesters gathered in the capital Erbil, a stronghold of the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Some of those involved said they had taken to the streets despite the KDP’s longstanding policy of trying to prevent such protests. "This is very significant for Erbil,” said one teacher, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.

Protests continued in Erbil on Monday but were rapidly contained by security forces. “We were around 150 protesters,” the teacher said. “There were three times the number of security forces, in full riot gear."

For three years now the KRG has struggled to pay the salaries of its more than one million government employees. The high number of Kurds receiving a government salary — nearly a quarter of the population — has in the past dampened popular discontent towards the autonomous region’s leadership.

But growing anger over ongoing austerity measures and the failure to pay salaries could threaten the KRG, whose power has already been greatly rolled back by the federal government in the wake of a failed independence referendum in September last year.

The Iraqi federal government began halting payments to the Kurdistan Region in 2014, following a dispute over the Kurds' share of the federal budget and their right to export oil.

Since then the KRG has struggled to reduce its deficit, despite unilaterally selling oil in defiance of Baghdad. As a result the Kurdish government was forced in 2016 to introduced austerity measures, cutting public salaries by up to three quarters.

_______________

Read more:

Iraq sends money to pay Kurdish salaries for first time since 2014

Beyond the Headlines podcast: Iraq's reconstruction and the challenges ahead

Iraqi budget cut raises tensions with Kurdish region 

Baghdad extends flight ban on Iraqi Kurdistan  

_______________

But many Kurds believe corruption is also a factor in igniting the protests.

“They’re stealing our salaries and ... giving us [only] part of our salaries every two or three months,” said Yasa Ako, 23, a civil society activist protesting in Erbil.

In September last year Kurdish leaders banked on a successful referendum to placate their constituents and achieve a stronger negotiation position with the federal government.

Instead Baghdad vehemently opposed the move, shut Kurdish airspace to international flights and later seized large tracts of disputed territory formerly controlled by the Kurds, including oil fields around the city of Kirkuk.

With the loss of nearly half its oil production, the KRG was forced to re-enter negotiations with Baghdad in order to receive its share of the federal budget.

Earlier this month, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi announced he would lift the international flight ban on Kurdish airports and would send money to pay for KRG public salaries ahead of the Nowruz festival on March 20.

The KRG says Baghdad sent IQD 317 billion (Dh982.4 million) to pay salaries, but claimed it needs at least IQD 590 billion to pay its employees under its austerity salary programme. “It is a smaller amount than needed,” the KRG said in a statement promising to work to increase payments to its civil servants.

A KRG spokesperson was not immediately available for comments.

Baghdad suspects the Kurds have a large numbers of “ghost employees” on the government payroll and insists that the amount it sent is sufficient. “The portion sent to [the Kurdistan Region], along with the region’s oil sales is enough to provide full salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s employees,” Saad Hadithi, a spokesman in the Prime Minister’s office told local media.

The protests follow ongoing strikes by teachers and healthcare workers in the cities of Sulaymaniyah and Halabja, both government opposition strongholds.

With protesters’ demands unmet, the unrest has the potential to grow.

“There will be more protests,” said activist Mr Ako. The government, he said, has been dishonest. "The people can no longer trust this lying government.”

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The five stages of early child’s play

From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:

1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.

2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.

3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.

4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.

5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills