On 48th anniversary of Qaladze bombardment, PM Barzani again calls on Baghdad to compensate victims

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani repeated his call on the Iraqi government to compensate Kurdish victims of past atrocities perpetrated by former Iraqi regimes on Sunday while commemorating the 48th anniversary of the Qaladze bombing. 

The prime minister said he salutes “the martyrs of the catastrophes” while repeating his call on the Iraqi government to compensate the victims of past atrocities. 

Barzani and the Kurdish leadership regularly urge Baghdad to fulfill its constitutional obligation to redress the victims of past atrocities, particularly on the anniversaries of the genocidal Anfal campaign, the infamous Halabja chemical bombing, and the Qaladze bombardment. 

On Apr. 24, 1974, the Iraqi Ba’athist regime dropped napalm bombs on the border town of Qaladze, where the University of Sulaimani was located. Hundreds were killed in the attack, including students and lecturers. 

Years later, in 1982, when local people of the town held a demonstration commemorating the massacre, the regime violently cracked down on them, killing two women: Mother Amina and Sister Mahmood. 

The bombardment came after the March 11 Accord, signed between the then Iraqi regime and the Kurdish revolutionary movement led by the late General Mustafa Barzani in 1970 to grant the Kurds autonomy, was breached by Baghdad.