SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani has been tasked with restoring peace and security in the province of Sulaimani following violent anti-government protests that resulted in the death of at least two people.
Talabani headed two meetings of security forces in Sulaimani on Thursday that were also attended by Sulaimani governor Haval Abubakir, Samir Hawrami, media officer of Talabani’s office told Rudaw on Thursday.
Talabani, who is from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), visited Sulaimani because of the “special situation” in the province, Hawrami added.
“He will stay in Sulaimani until the situation is back to normal,” the KRG official said.
Sulaimani is the stronghold of the PUK, as well as Gorran Movement. Governor Abubakir is from Gorran.
The PUK has great influence over security forces and Peshmerga soldiers in provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja where anti-government protests began on Monday.
The KRG has deployed security forces to affected cities in the two provinces including Raniya where at least two people were killed, 87 more injured and a number of government and party offices were set ablaze during Tuesday and Wednesday clashes.
Thousands of people took to the streets in most of the cities of the two provinces demanding an end to wide-spread corruption, calling for better basic services and a reverse of often delayed or reduced public sector-salaries.
PM Nechirvan Barzani on Thursday said people have the “just right to protest,” in the Kurdistan Region, a democratic value respected by the KRG. He warned, however, the “course of protests” had been manipulated by some to cause violence.
“We know there is a hand behind the events,” Barzani said.
He said the KRG is determined to put an end to the “chaos” caused by the deadly protests.
He said the people should realize that the KRG’s revenues “have been slashed by half” since the loss of the oil-fields in Kirkuk in mid-October.
The KRG also maintains that is also unable to pay the state salaries in full or on time because of the continued Iraqi budget cuts since early-2014.
However, Barzani said that they are still able to pay the salaries.
Gorran, Kurdistan’s second-largest party, announced on Wednesday to withdraw from the KRG coalition government. They decided though to stay part of the local government in Sulaimani and Halabja.
