Al-Sulaymaniyah salary protests: Demands unmet, sit-in continues

Shafaq News/ On Sunday, teachers and public employees in Al-Sulaymaniyah intensified protests over delayed salary payments by setting up a tent along a key route used by oil tankers heading to Iran.

“Demonstrators, who blocked the road earlier in the day, gathered near the Bashmakh border crossing in the Arbat area, preventing the passage of oil and petroleum trucks,” Shafaq News Agency correspondent reported. “The protest is in response to the non-payment of December 2024 salaries and the failure to implement Federal Supreme Court rulings addressing their financial crisis.”

The correspondent noted that protesters vowed to continue their sit-in until their demands are met.

Al-Sulaymaniyah, like other areas in Iraqi Kurdistan, is grappling with a deepening financial crisis due to chronic salary delays. Despite an Erbil-Baghdad agreement on oil exports and Kurdistan’s share in Iraq’s recently approved budget, implementation remains stalled, prolonging the crisis.