PM Barzani Honors Victims on 52nd Anniversary of Qaladze Bombardment
"On the 52nd anniversary of the bombardment of Qaladze by the former Iraqi regime, we honor the memory of the martyrs of Qaladze and all of Kurdistan," the Prime Minister said in his statement. "We will never forget their sacrifice."
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Friday commemorated the 52nd anniversary of the bombardment of Qaladze, issuing a formal statement honoring the victims of the 1974 aerial attack by the former Iraqi regime.
"On the 52nd anniversary of the bombardment of Qaladze by the former Iraqi regime, we honor the memory of the martyrs of Qaladze and all of Kurdistan," the prime minister said in his statement. "We will never forget their sacrifice."
On the 52nd anniversary of the bombardment of Qaladze by the former Iraqi regime, we honor the memory of the martyrs of Qaladze and all of Kurdistan. We will never forget their sacrifice. pic.twitter.com/zdQuyJfFXL
— Masrour Barzani (@masrourbarzani) April 24, 2026
On April 24, 1974, Ba'athist military aircraft dropped munitions on Qaladze, a town located in the Sulaimani province.
The bombardment deliberately targeted residential areas and struck the campus of University of Sulaimani, which had temporarily relocated to the town to protest the central government's policies, resulting in the deaths of over a hundred civilians, including numerous students and academic staff.
The Qaladze bombardment marks a critical juncture in the Kurdish historical memory of systematic state violence.
The anniversary remains a solemn fixture in the Kurdistan Region's official calendar, utilized by regional leadership to reinforce institutional memory and underscore the historical resilience of the Kurdish population amid broader, ongoing dialogues regarding domestic security and constitutional rights within Iraq.