Kurdish Region 'Lagging Behind Baghdad'

The Iraqi Kurdish government doesn't have quite the same impetus for implementing reforms either. Massive popular demonstrations in Baghdad and further south forced the Iraqi government to pay attention and make promises about reform. However, although there are some demonstrations by unpaid employees now, this hasn't happened to the same degree in the northern region.

“Despite the various crises here, the street is weak,” says Shawis. “There haven't been any demonstrations here and that has an impact. Additionally there isn't a real opposition in Iraqi Kurdistan right now and there are no political groups capable of triggering such large protests.”

In 2011, there was a wave of major demonstrations in Iraqi Kurdistan and after violent crackdowns, the local authorities did promise reforms. But none of them appear to have been enacted.

“Reforms planned by al-Abadi are acceptable to the people of Iraqi Kurdistan yet they have not reached the region,” says Shvan Zangana, who heads an activist organisation in the region. “Reforms should be planned because for years officials in Iraqi Kurdistan have been talking about the region as a model for all of Iraq.”