Iraq’s Kurdish region warns against ‘unlawful’ stop to funds

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ABBY SEWELL

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Kurdish authorities are pushing back against a decision by Iraq’s top court that blocked payments from state coffers funding the semi-autonomous region. A spokesman for Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government said Thursday in a statement that the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court’s decision would have a negative “impact” on relations between the central government in Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan’s semiautonomous leaders. The court ruling on Wednesday invalidated a series of decisions by the government in Baghdad to transfer funds to the Kurdish region to pay salaries in 2021 and 2022, arguing that the transfers violated Iraq’s 2021 budget law and were unconstitutional.