Public frustration is surging across Sulaymaniyah province in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, as government employees face their second consecutive month without pay. The delays have deepened economic hardship and triggered a slowdown in local markets.
Calls for mass protests intensified in recent days as salaries have remained unpaid since May. With June nearing its end, authorities have yet to announce when workers will receive their wages. Demonstrations planned for Thursday were ultimately stifled by heavy security deployments.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that security forces detained numerous activists and teachers demanding their salaries, along with journalists attempting to cover the protests.
The Metro Center for the Defense of Journalists’ Rights condemned the wave of arrests. Its coordinator, Rahman Gharib, said that security forces apprehended activists, politicians, and reporters on Wednesday and Thursday merely for planning to participate in demonstrations expressing legitimate demands for fair pay and dignified living conditions.
Since 2015, public employees in Kurdistan have repeatedly faced salary delays, the result of deep-rooted financial disputes between Baghdad and the regional government in Erbil.
Kurdistan’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced Wednesday that the federal government would send a delegation within two days to resolve the crisis. He stressed that employees’ wages should be kept separate from political disagreements between Baghdad and Erbil.
Earlier this month, Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami ordered the suspension of funding for Kurdistan’s salaries and other entitlements, citing the region’s alleged breach of its 12.67 percent budget share. The Kurdish government has since appealed to the international community to help end the deadlock.
Amid the salary crisis, Kurdistan’s Labor Minister Kwestan Muhammad warned of a surge in drug abuse and trafficking across the region. Speaking Thursday at an event marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse, she said Kurdistan had once been nearly free of narcotics, but has now become a key corridor for smuggling drugs, especially toward Canada, via cross-border networks.
She revealed that last month alone, authorities detained 5,746 people on criminal charges, with 1,576 arrests linked to drug offenses. Among them were 1,486 men and 81 women, highlighting how deeply the problem has spread in society.
The region’s security services also disclosed that in the first half of this year, 520 suspects were arrested in drug-related cases, including 243 users and others accused of trafficking.
