Masrour Barzani: Baghdad will send a delegation to the Kurdistan Region to resolve the salary issue.

Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced on Wednesday that the crisis of halting funding for salaries of public sector employees in the region is on its way to being resolved, and that he had communicated with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Council, Faiq Zidan, and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in this regard.

This came during a press conference held today in Erbil, where Masrour Barzani addressed the conflict in the region, saying, "The announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran is in the interest of all countries in the region, and we hope it will be a step toward restoring peace and stability throughout the region."

He added, "We in the Kurdistan Region have done our best to stay out of this war and chaos, and we must express our gratitude to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who has sought to spare Iraq from entering this conflict."

Regarding the issue of salaries, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region stated, "For the past two months, the salaries of Kurdistan Region employees have not been paid legally, which is considered an unconstitutional measure. We believe it is unacceptable to link the salaries of Kurdistan Region employees to any political dispute or conflict. "

He stressed that "we will not give up any constitutional right of the people of the Kurdistan Region in any way, and we will continue to defend it," adding that "during the past period, there was not a day when we were not busy searching for a solution to this crisis."

Masrour Barzani continued, "We have been in contact with officials. Yesterday, I spoke with the head of the Supreme Judicial Council and the prime minister, and I assured them that we are keen to move towards resolving this crisis. They welcomed this and announced their readiness to send a delegation within the next two days to address the salary issue."

The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government spoke about the suspension of Kurdistan's oil exports, saying that because of this, "the Iraqi economy and the Kurdistan Region's economy have incurred losses exceeding $25 billion, and to date, the federal government has not compensated the citizens of the Kurdistan Region for these losses."

He stressed that "to resume Kurdistan's oil exports, an agreement must be reached with all parties, especially with the oil companies operating in the region, which are demanding guarantees for extraction costs."

Masrour Barzani continued, "We were waiting for a ruling from the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq that would benefit the salaries of Kurdistan Region employees, but the court was dissolved with the resignation of a number of members. Now we are pinning our hopes on the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq to resolve the salaries issue."

The KRG Prime Minister continued, "If an agreement is not reached with the Iraqi government to resolve the salary issue, we will resort to internal revenues, reducing expenses, or any other means possible to secure the financial rights owed to the people of the Kurdistan Region, according to our capabilities." He added, "However, I am optimistic about reaching a radical solution with the federal government on this matter."  link