Deputy head of Bethnahrain Patriotic Union Joseph Sliwa about Iraqi budget conflict: Stop making the ordinary citizen victim of disputes between Baghdad and Erbil

ERBIL, Iraq – Former MP and current deputy head of the Bethnahrain Patriotic Union, Joseph Sliwa, has denounced the policies of the governments of Baghdad and Erbil in fighting their political conflicts over the back of the Iraqi citizen.

Sliwa’s statement to our news desk comes against the background of the recent decision of Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court which on Wednesday declared the latest federal budget payments to the Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI) unconstitutional, landing yet another blow to political reconciliation between Baghdad and Erbil.

The monthly budget payments are, among others, related to the salaries of civil servants of the KRI.

Joseph Sliwa said that the Bethnahrain Patriotic Union, an affiliate of the Bethnahrin National Council, condemns the suspensions of budget payments and considers them a violation of human norms and democratic principles. It is the citizen who is the victim of this political conflict. “In this respect we urge the governments of Baghdad and Erbil to immediately stop the exploitation of citizens as a political shield, and that they take out the citizen of the political disputes between the them,” he said.

Sliwa urges the two governments to quickly resolve their disputes so that the facilitation of budget and salaries can start again. The citizens may not be a political card to settle bills between the two.