During his election campaign in Koya for the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections scheduled for November 11, Talabani said, “They came from Baghdad and said, ‘Let us directly pay the salaries of Sulaimani and this side.’ The PUK’s answer was: ‘Thank you very much, but we don’t want to.’”

Talabani added, “We see Kurdistan with one eye. If that offer had been made to another party, wouldn’t they have separated themselves to fill their own stomachs?”

Referring to Masoud Barzani’s remarks on the salary issue, Talabani said sarcastically, “A few months ago there were no salaries. They kept saying: ‘I won’t do it, it’s unacceptable.’ Is this a solution?”

The PUK leader also attacked the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), saying, “Voting for the party that responds to every problem with ‘unacceptable’ and ‘I won’t do it’ is a wasted vote.” 

He called on citizens to support the PUK, asserting that “only the PUK works for citizens’ rights in Baghdad and can achieve them.”

Regarding the formation of the tenth cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has become part of the PUK’s election campaign, Talabani said, “By God, we will not enter a new cabinet of KRG until we know that every city in Kurdistan Region is viewed and served equally.”