Iraqi Deputy Parliament Speaker: Maliki’s policies toward Kurds like Saddam’s

08.04.2014 – Hawar Abdulrazaq – BasNews, Baghdad – Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Arif Tayfur says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s policies towards the Kurds are equivalent to those of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.

Tayfur, a Kurdish official in Baghdad and senior official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said that withholding Kurdish Government employees’ salaries is similar to what Saddam’s regime did to Kurds in the past. “The Iraqi Government continues its punishing policies against the Kurds and withholding people’s salaries is similar to the policies Saddam used in the past,” read Tayfur’s statement. He also added that it is no secret that Kurds have suffered under Iraqi regimes and that it is them who have worked to create democracy in Iraq following the fall of Saddam in 2003. “It’s confusing that now some people wish to take back Iraq to a dictatorship,” added Tayfur. Tayfur also explained that Kurds merely want their constitutional rights and do not want to exclude anyone from getting their share of the Iraqi revenues.