ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The visit by Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani to Erbil on Sunday was conducted with the Kurdistan Region civil servant salary issues as top priority, deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament Shakhawan Abdullah said on Sunday.

Mashhadani arrived in Erbil on Sunday to discuss joint issues, coordination between the central and regional governments, and Iraq’s upcoming November parliamentary elections, read a statement from the parliament speaker’s office. 

During his visit, Mashhadani met with Kurdish top officials, including Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, President Masoud Barzani, and Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani. 

The Iraqi parliamentary speaker’s visit to Erbil and meetings with Kurdish officials had “resolving the Kurdistan Region’s civil servants’ salaries’ issue,” as its “top priority,” Abdullah said in a statement posted to his Facebook account.

Abdullah noted that talks are set to continue in Baghdad tomorrow, while commending Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s efforts in helping facilitate the process.

The matter of salaries took centerstage in all of the meetings held by Mashhadani with officials in the Kurdistan Region. 

Mashhadani and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani agreed that “the matter of salaries must not be mixed with problems and political rivalries whatsoever, and that the Kurdistan Region’s civil servants should not pay the price of such disputes,” read a statement from the premier’s office.

“Solutions have been reached and will be discussed in the coming days,” said the Iraqi parliament in a statement meanwhile, following the parliamentary speaker’s meeting with Nechirvan Barzani.

Mashhadani’s visit came as a recent suspension of the Kurdistan Region’s civil servant salaries has sparked outrage among the Region’s public as well as the officials and politicians, who have slammed the decision as “political.” 

The move has prompted civil servants from the Kurdistan Region to file a complaint to the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court, demanding uninterrupted funding of their salaries on their specified dates as per a previous ruling of the court.

The New Region understands that the issue of the Region’s civil servant salaries will be a point of discussion in the upcoming regular session of the Iraqi Council of Ministers. The agenda of the session is set to be devised tomorrow, a senior official in the council confirmed to The New Region. 

In a letter addressed to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in late May, Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami said that Baghdad was “unable to continue funding the Region,” for the rest of the year, arguing that Erbil has already exceeded its share of the annual budget.

Spokesperson of the KRG Peshawa Hawramani said on Wednesday that funding the salaries of the Region’s employees by the federal government is contingent upon an agreement between international oil companies (IOCs) and Baghdad for the resumption of Erbil’s exports. 

“The ball is now in Baghdad’s court,” Hawramani said. “The fate of one million employees awaits a signature” from Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani.

Years of conflict and unresolved issues between Erbil and Baghdad, and economic sanctions and pressure on Erbil by federal authorities, have pushed employees in the Region to live from paycheck to paycheck.