Kurdistan Region pays 20,000 Syrian troops monthly

According to KurdPress, Ghaleb Muhammad, a member of the Iraqi parliament, announced in a message that the Kurdistan Regional Government pays 20,000 Syrian troops monthly.

He said that instead of paying salaries to these troops, 20,000 young contract workers, volunteers, and graduates of universities and educational institutions who have served the people and the region for years be replaced. In this report, the term “Syrian forces” refers to the Peshmerga forces of Syrian Kurdistan, which are referred to as such in some media, party, and parliamentary statements.

Officials of the Kurdistan Region and military commanders have stated that these forces are part of the region’s security and defense structure and have also suffered casualties in the war against ISIS; therefore, the issue of cutting off their salaries is considered to have security and political dimensions in addition to financial aspects.

According to statements by some members of parliament and financial observers, when reviewing the salaries of the region’s security forces, the Iraqi Ministry of Finance completely removed the budget allocated to these forces, which was stated to be more than 26 billion dinars, and refused to send it. The Iraqi government has stated that these forces are outside the legal and constitutional framework of the Iraqi Armed Forces and do not have Iraqi citizenship; therefore, Baghdad does not accept payment for the costs of a force that has not been approved by the official organization of the Peshmerga Ministry or security institutions. Given that Baghdad does not allocate a budget for these forces, their costs and salaries are covered by the internal resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government and based on internal mechanisms, including the organization of the Zeravani forces or party mechanisms, as well as internal revenues and donations.