Silence in Sulaimani, Voice in the UK

Kurdish Diaspora to Protest in UK as Authorities Suppress Demonstration at Home

SULAIMANI & LONDON
While the security committee of Sulaimani Governorate issued a public warning on Monday urging citizens to cancel a planned demonstration over delayed public salaries, members of the Kurdish diaspora in the United Kingdom have announced they will proceed with a protest on the same day, June 26, in solidarity with the people of the Kurdistan Region.

The statement from the Sulaimani Security Committee, cloaked in language of “public safety” and “appropriate timing,” effectively prohibits citizens from gathering. It claims that “the current sensitive situation” does not allow for protests, despite acknowledging the “suffering of public employees and the legitimate grievances of salary earners.”

This is not the first time authorities have attempted to suppress demonstrations by discouraging public gatherings under vague pretexts. Activists and civil society members argue that these tactics are aimed at silencing dissent and maintaining control over a population increasingly angered by economic hardship, delayed wages, and lack of political accountability.

“The government cannot pay salaries, but it can always find resources to silence voices,” said a local teacher in Sulaimani who requested anonymity. “This so-called request to postpone is just another form of oppression.”

In direct response, Kurdish activists in the UK are organizing a parallel demonstration in seven major cities, pledging to amplify the voices being stifled back home. Organizers from the Dakok Organization and independent activists say they will gather outside the Iraqi Embassy to protest the deteriorating economic conditions and the crackdown on peaceful expression.

“We will not be silent while our people are silenced,” said Diyar Harki, a Kurdish activist based in Manchester. “If they are denied the right to demonstrate in Sulaimani, we will raise their voice in London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester.”

The protest is expected to draw Kurdish activists, exiles, and rights organizations who view the Sulaimani ban as a clear indicator of growing authoritarianism within the Kurdistan Region.

This unfolding scenario exposes a bitter contradiction: a government that claims to support its citizens while simultaneously denying them the democratic right to protest and a diaspora determined to hold them accountable on the international stage.

As one slogan circulating online reads:
“If Kurdistan is silenced, the world will hear us.”