2023-01-15
On Sunday, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, complained regarding the issue of collecting internal financial revenues in the regions and cities under the influence of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, calling at the same time for the extradition of those accused of the assassination of Colonel Hawkar Al-Jaf.
Barzani said in a statement to the public opinion g; “Dear citizens, I and my government cabinet took the constitutional oath before the Kurdistan Parliament to work to preserve the supreme interests of the people, the homeland, and the constitutional entity of the Kurdistan Region.”
He continued, “Therefore, we agreed, since the beginning of the work of this government, to erase the effects of dual administration, and that decisions be applied equally in all regions of the Kurdistan Region, and partisan or personal decisions should not be an obstacle to the implementation of any government decision anywhere in the region.”
He added, “I look equally at the entire Kurdistan Region and consider myself responsible for all citizens in all the provinces and independent administrations.
Unfortunately, the government was prevented and obstacles were placed in front of it, which caused damage to the lives and livelihood of citizens.
Barzani said; “About two years ago, there was a problem in collecting revenues and the disappearance of money inside banks in the borders of Sulaymaniyah, Garmian and Halabja in the Rabrin administration. We followed this issue and formed a committee from the Ministry of Finance and the Interior, but the main problem is that there are parties that interfere in the process of collecting revenues in these areas from For their interests, they bear responsibility for the damage caused to citizens and government institutions.”
He pointed out that “transparency is for the government to supervise the process of collecting revenues completely, and not only to be aware of the proportion allocated to it.
Since the formation of this government cabinet, we have tried to organize revenues, and we succeeded in that remarkably, and that enabled me to overcome the stage of decreasing revenues at the time of the emergence of the Corona pandemic.
He pointed out that “for some time now, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan has been talking regarding the existence of a siege on Sulaymaniyah,” noting that “all those aware of the economic situation in the region know that the oil revenues and sums that were sent from time to time from Baghdad were distributed equally and salaries were distributed.” employees with these amounts.
And that “what draws attention is the non-oil internal revenues of the region, and most of them are the revenues of the border crossings, but unfortunately, these revenues were not allowed to be regulated, so the leadership of the National Union bears all the damage caused to these areas.”
He stressed that “if national interests are above partisan interests, it is easy to address this problem, and we have an action plan, and we have taken a good step in this regard, but we were prevented from doing so, and the dry assassination of Hawkar, the colonel in the Counter-Terrorism Service, caused this process to stop.”
Wayne Barzani; That “financial problems and revenue collection have existed for regarding two years, and dozens of meetings were held in this regard, and there were clear steps to solve this problem.”
He pointed out, “There is also a decision by the regional cabinet to send joint forces to the border crossings, but the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan threatened that if this decision is implemented, an internal war will be fabricated.”
continued; “At that time, highlighting this issue was not shedding light on the assassination of Colonel Hawkar Al-Jaf in the heart of the capital of the Kurdistan Region.”
The head of government stressed; The Kurdistan Region and the Peshmerga forces were a symbol of confronting terrorism, and people cannot use terrorism within the region to settle scores.
Barzani confirmed; “In this case, we did not accuse any party, only there are some names accused of committing the crime, who must be brought to court, and we have sent official letters to the competent authorities in Sulaymaniyah.”
He added, “We said from the beginning that we should have a joint committee in addition to the presence of an international third party involved in the investigation, but unfortunately these demands have not been answered yet.”
And between, “If the issue is not related to the revenues of Sulaymaniyah, but rather it is being asked to remain silent regarding the case of the assassination of Colonel Hawker Al-Jaf, and these demands are unfair and the citizens of the region should not accept them.”
He stressed that “the current situation in the region requires us to solve problems, and it is a strong step towards the future.”
Barzani said; In the interest of the public and to overcome this stage, I will present a set of points for public opinion:
First: Regarding the case of the assassination of Colonel Hawkar al-Jaf, which is the main cause of these problems, I demand the extradition of the accused and the formation of a joint committee of institutions concerned with the presence of international bodies and representatives of the Parliament of Kurdistan or any friendly country that wishes to participate. The accused are investigated and the results of the investigations are revealed to the public.
Second:
Since the formation of this government cabinet, demands have been made to implement the decentralization system in expenditures and revenues, but now the ministerial team affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is demanding that expenditures be centralized. If this matter is implemented, all revenues, especially from border crossings, must also be centralized. There is coordination between the Ministry of Interior and Finance and the Ministry of Peshmerga in order to prevent smuggling and theft of the revenues of the border crossings, and it is necessary to form a joint force to manage these crossings.
Third:
No obstacles should be put in front of the reform process in the Ministry of Peshmerga. In this booth, we have taken the steps of the process of unification of the Peshmerga forces and reform, and the Peshmerga forces must turn into strong national forces to defend the constitutional entity of the Kurdistan Region and confront threats away from partisan agendas.
Fourth:
For the public interest of the democratic process, Parliament must hold its session as soon as possible to activate the Electoral Commission so that we can take practical steps to conduct the elections. Parliamentary elections must be held in the region during the current year, and we in the region’s government are ready to provide all the needs for conducting these elections.
Fifth:
All political parties participating in the government, such as parties, must be supportive of the government and not be part of the government on the one hand and take on the role of the opposition on the other hand, and the ministerial teams must implement the government’s agenda. Political problems must not be transferred to the government. The attempt to solve political problems should take place outside the government and not cause the government to stop working.
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