Salary protests: Kurdish teachers block oil tankers in Al-Sulaymaniyah

Shafaq News/ On Sunday, teachers and government employees blocked roads in Arbat, Al-Sulaymaniyah Province, preventing oil tankers from reaching border crossings in a protest over unpaid salaries.

“The demonstration aimed to highlight that the Kurdistan Region’s natural resources should benefit the people rather than serving the ruling authorities,” protester and teacher Ata Mohammed told Shafaq News, calling for oil revenues to be used to improve living conditions and ensure salary payments.

Another protester, Adel Hassan, told Shafaq News that “the blockade follows a 15-day strike and could extend into an open-ended sit-in if demands remain unmet.”

Al-Sulaymaniyah, like other areas in the 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.