'I will only leave here dead'
Sulaymaniyah: hunger strike by public sector workers enters fourth day as health concerns mount
SULAYMANIYAH – On the fourth consecutive day of a hunger strike, public sector employees—primarily teachers—are refusing food near the United Nations compound in Sulaymaniyah, demanding overdue salary payments as health concerns intensify among participants.
Public workers throughout the Kurdistan Region have faced recurring pay delays, with December 2024 wages still unpaid. Although officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraq’s federal government recently met to discuss financial disputes, no breakthrough has been reported.
On Friday, a high-level KRG delegation, led by Finance Minister Awat Sheikh Janab, held talks in Baghdad with Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami. The meeting took place at the Al-Rasheed Hotel, where Janab later expressed optimism about resolving salary issues and finalizing employee and retiree lists, saying, “there is a mutual understanding.”
A follow-up session is under way to confirm the preliminary agreements reached by the KRG delegation.
Amid the protests, a female teacher who had not eaten for four days collapsed at the camp but insisted on staying. “No one is leaving the tent,” she said. “I will only leave here dead.” According to medical teams, she is in the most critical condition due to a preexisting health issue. “Her health is in a state that does not allow her to continue the strike, but she refuses to leave the protest site,” a medical official said.
Shaho Osman, deputy governor of Sulaymaniyah, visited the tents on Saturday and claimed that the salary localization process, one of their main demands, is moving forward.
Speaking to 964media, Osman stated, “The demands of the striking employees have been acknowledged, and there is no more time to delay the rightful salaries of workers.”
On Jan. 11, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Council of Ministers held a meeting in Erbil with Kurdish parliamentary bloc leaders in Baghdad and Kurdish officials in the Iraqi government to discuss the ongoing delays.
During the meeting, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said, “Kurdistan people must be freed from this psychologically distressing situation,” adding, “The relationship between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq must be rectified.”
Despite harsh winter temperatures near Goizha Mountain, protesters remain in tents, vowing to continue until they receive their salaries. At midnight on day three, with streets nearly empty, weariness was evident as bitter winds cut through gaps in the thin polyethylene tarp.
“We are not leaving. We will stay here until our demands are met. So far, no representative from the United Nations has come to meet us,” said one protester, Pakiza Mohammed.
The teachers’ standoff stems from a decade-long struggle for reliable pay, marked by various protest methods.
The second semester for schools in the Kurdistan Region began Sunday, yet many teachers in Sulaymaniyah and Halabja remain on strike, mirroring their first-semester walkout that lasted nearly a month. Numerous government offices in both governorates are partially shut down as employees withhold their labor due to the ongoing salary crisis.
“It has been four days, and I have only slept for half an hour. We are waiting for our demands to be met,” said striking teacher Srosh Hawari.
Humanitarian workers are keeping close watch over the situation. “Every day, we visit the hunger strikers multiple times to check on their condition,” said Ako Karim, a member of Sulaymaniyah’s emergency services. “When a person goes without food for several days, signs of weakness start to appear, and their health declines.”
Teachers and other public employees from neighboring districts have joined in, strengthening the protest. “The situation is worsening. Medical tests show that some protesters, particularly women, are experiencing health complications. But as long as we have the strength, we will continue our pressure on the regional government to meet our demands,” said Dilshad Mirani, a representative of the hunger strikers.