SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has kicked off his re-election campaign in the Kurdistan Region with a message of unity and willingness to listen.
“We have come to listen to you and your issues,” he said at a campaign event in Sulaimani Wednesday night. “We will listen to any complaint from you.”
He said that his Victory (Nasr) list is fielding candidates in Sulaimani and the Kurdistan Region and this “proves that we do not consider one citizen better than the other.”
The former regime of Saddam Hussein had oppressed the people of Sulaimani and forced them from their homes, he said, but the time of tyranny is over.
“All Iraqis are number one.”
Relations between the Kurdistan Region and Abadi’s government have reached historic highs and plummeted to deadly lows.
Abadi came into power in 2014 shortly after Baghdad cut the Kurdistan Region’s budget when Erbil announced it intended to export oil independent of the capital. In the 2018 federal budget, the Kurdistan Region’s share has been restored, but slashed.
Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga, longtime foes, fought side-by-side to defeat ISIS in Mosul, but when Baghdad rejected Kurdistan’s vote for independence and Abadi ordered troops to take control of the disputed areas last fall, the two sides once again found themselves at each other’s gunpoint.
Speaking in Sulaimani, Abadi stressed that the Peshmerga and Iraqi army were brothers in arms – they ate together and fought together.
Abadi has pledged to combat corruption, a threat he has equated with that of terrorism. He has expressed about corruption in the Kurdistan Region, saying he would send funds to cover salaries of government employees only when he was assured the right and deserving people would receive the money.
In his campaign speech on Wednesday, he blamed the KRG for problems distributing payments to farmers.
Kurdish farmers have filed a complaint in court seeking full compensation for four years’ worth of crops sold to Baghdad. Abadi said all the money has been paid, but the problem is with distribution.
He also promised to create job opportunities but stressed that “this needs unity.”
“We have come to listen to you and your issues,” he said at a campaign event in Sulaimani Wednesday night. “We will listen to any complaint from you.”
He said that his Victory (Nasr) list is fielding candidates in Sulaimani and the Kurdistan Region and this “proves that we do not consider one citizen better than the other.”
The former regime of Saddam Hussein had oppressed the people of Sulaimani and forced them from their homes, he said, but the time of tyranny is over.
“All Iraqis are number one.”
Relations between the Kurdistan Region and Abadi’s government have reached historic highs and plummeted to deadly lows.
Abadi came into power in 2014 shortly after Baghdad cut the Kurdistan Region’s budget when Erbil announced it intended to export oil independent of the capital. In the 2018 federal budget, the Kurdistan Region’s share has been restored, but slashed.
Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga, longtime foes, fought side-by-side to defeat ISIS in Mosul, but when Baghdad rejected Kurdistan’s vote for independence and Abadi ordered troops to take control of the disputed areas last fall, the two sides once again found themselves at each other’s gunpoint.
Speaking in Sulaimani, Abadi stressed that the Peshmerga and Iraqi army were brothers in arms – they ate together and fought together.
Abadi has pledged to combat corruption, a threat he has equated with that of terrorism. He has expressed about corruption in the Kurdistan Region, saying he would send funds to cover salaries of government employees only when he was assured the right and deserving people would receive the money.
In his campaign speech on Wednesday, he blamed the KRG for problems distributing payments to farmers.
Kurdish farmers have filed a complaint in court seeking full compensation for four years’ worth of crops sold to Baghdad. Abadi said all the money has been paid, but the problem is with distribution.
He also promised to create job opportunities but stressed that “this needs unity.”
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