Amid looming financial difficulties and teacher protests, Alan Hama Saeed, KRG education minister, implored teachers today to abandon the idea of boycotting classes.
The minister's comments came during a press conference, where he emphasized the importance of 'unity' among teachers in the Kurdistan Region. The unity, to the minister, should be in the face of Baghdad not directed at Erbil.
"While teachers have every right to demand their financial entitlements, boycotting schools is not the path to resolution," Saeed said. "I urge educators to come together and help us in asserting the rights of the Kurdistan Region."
The KRG's precarious financial position has seen it lose access to Turkey for its oil sales for months now. Baghdad has so far refused to send the full Kurdistan Region portion of the federal budget to the KRG. Kurdistan Region public sector workers haven't been paid in months. Saeed used the platform to call on the federal government to honor its commitments.
"We need the federal government to step up and fulfill its obligations to the KRG, especially regarding the budget," he stated. "The education of our youth and the well-being of our educators are at stake."
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Education announced that schools would open their doors for the new academic year on September 13, 2023. In his address, the minister reinforced this date and asked for compliance from both teachers and students. If the strikes gain traction, the school bells may ring to empty courtyards.
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Folks in Tehran are busy today
Sudani's media office posted on X:
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Public sector workers on strike
Sulaymaniyah public sector works in multiple fields, including doctors, educators, and tax revenue office employees, have announced a strike due to the KRG failure to distribute salaries for July, August, and September. A similar strike has also been declared in Halabja.
According t NRT, the workers at the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Education are among the those participating in the work stoppage. Health workers have also joined the boycott.
Striking employees insist they will continue to boycott work until the overdue salaries are finally paid. The strike is disrupting essential services in Sulaimani and could exacerbate existing issues, particularly in healthcare and education, if it persists.
Similar strikes in previous years have failed to gain significant traction among wider swaths of the population. Though the near three-month stoppage this time is, for many, a bridge too far. It remains to be seen if people across the Kurdistan Region will join the picket lines en masse this time.
Last week, a KDP-sponsored protest in Duhok drew thousands of people in condemning the lack of budget transfers by Baghdad to the Kurdistan Region. the KRG says it has fulfilled its side of the bargain struck in hashing out a federal budget earlier this year. Baghdad says the KRG isn't being forthcoming and honest about internal revenues. Though there are reports that it's pro-Iranian proxies in the federal government holding up Kurdistan's share.
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'Once a tree is pulled out, it does not grow again'
Tobacco fields in the Kurdistan Region are becoming relics of the past, with their decline captured in an Al-Monitor article by journalist Winthrop Rodgers.
"Once a tree is pulled out, it does not grow again," said Nuri Ahmed, a 63-year-old shopkeeper who echoes the sentiments of farmers in the region.
Star Ahmad Sleman, a 40-year-old farmer, described his struggle to secure good prices for his tobacco harvest. He's one of the few remaining local farmers persisting in a trade that was once a regional economic cornerstone. With dwindling support from the KRG and fierce competition from cheaper imports, Sleman and his peers represent the last of a fading legacy.'
The story isn't just the tale of tobacco—it’s a lens through which to view the Kurdistan Region's broader economic challenges. Attempts by the KRG to diversify away from oil have had limited success beyond snazzy PR campaigns, and the struggles of local farmers symbolize the systemic obstacles in the path of reviving a once vibrant agricultural sector.
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Bafel Talabani meets with the Iranian speaker of parliament
According to PUK mouthpiece Esta News Bafel Talabani has met with Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, also known as the Islamic Consultative Assembly or the Majlis, in Tehran earlier today.
While the meeting marks a low-key start to Talabani's trip, it remains to be seen whether he will meet with higher-ranking Iranian officials such as the president, ministers, or senior IRGC officials.
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Kurdistan Regional Government seeks UN help for combating desertification
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Morning briefing
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