Protest in Iraqi Kurdistan against corruption and lack of services

Knnc.net – 29-3-2014 – SLÊMANÎ, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,—  Residents of Bazian, which belongs to Slêmanî [Sulaimaniyah] province, demonstrated on Thursday against the lack of services in their area and claim that the government has ignored them. They blocked the main road that connects Slêmanî to Kirkuk for two hours asking the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials to respond to their demands; the demonstrators gave the KRG three days to fulfill their requirements.

“There are 20 factories in Bazian Area and that has polluted the environment and the residents did not get benefit from them and the factory owners do not employ residents.” Part of the demonstrator’s statement read. “We ask the government to take care of the environment and open an industrial area for these factories,” another part of the statement read. “We do not have electricity. We do not have streets. A hospital was supposed to be built but they stole the money. Our youth are jobless. There 20 factories in Bazian but our youth who have graduated from university are unemployed” an angry demonstrator charged.
“The KRG has to solve education issues and take care of agriculture and health” another demonstrator holding the statement said. “Arab cars and vehicles come and load their lorries while the residents are jobless,” an aged demonstrator said.
Another demonstrator added that in Newroz Kurdish New Year, people were going out to resorts and celebrating while these factories were spreading their waste and contaminating our surroundings and atmosphere. “From 2007 to 2012, 141 residents of Bazian got cancer. Recently we were told another statistic saying 205 residents have cancer. They say that 80% of Bazian’s environment is contaminated” a middle-aged demonstrator explained. Rafat Fatih, Mayor of Bazian, on the scene said that they are not sure about the number of those who got cancer and there are many reasons behind it. “The demonstrators demands are all justified but there are points that need to be tackled by the Iraqi Parliament” Fatih concluded. – Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, knnc.net