Sulaymaniyah graduates issue one-week ultimatum to KRG, PUK for jobs, legal reform

Shafaq News/ Graduates of Sulaymaniyah agricultural institutes and preparatory schools on Sunday issued a one-week ultimatum to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to make concrete action on job opportunities and legal reforms affecting their field.

Osman Jalal, the representative graduates, blamed the government for the failure of the agricultural sector, saying drought was only a part of the problem. He accused the government of "wasting the efforts оf the graduates" by failing to provide them with "support". 

"More than 6,000 graduates оf agricultural institutes іn Sulaymaniyah have been unemployed since 2011," he said during a press conference earlier today. "Some оf us graduated іn 2006. This is injustice."

The graduates' representative demanded the KRG's Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Begard Talabani, and the PUK's leader, Bafel Jalal Talabani, to streamline procedure to recruit the graduates of agricultural schools in the public sector and "amend laws on the supervision of agricultural projects."

Jalal also called for granting the graduates of agricultural institutes in Sulaymaniyah the same rights their counterparts in central and southern governorates enjoy. 

The graduates said they will stage "massive protests" іf their demands were not met within "a period оf nо more than one week."