In 1974, the Iraqi government reneged on the March 11, 1970 agreement, and once again war and destruction plagued the Kurdish regions. Because the people desired peace and a comfortable life, they were very concerned about this government stance and stood firmly against it. Therefore, with the resumption of the war, the entire public, with all its classes and segments, resisted the government's aggression. The struggle of the pen also joined the struggle of the weapon with greater momentum. Groups of students from the University of Sulaymaniyah, teachers, intellectuals, and revolutionary people headed to the areas under the control of the revolution and rejected the Ba'athist rule. The University of Sulaymaniyah combined scientific struggle with armed struggle; that is, both the banners of science and revolution were raised together to prove to the world that war and destruction are a major obstacle to the progress of the Kurds, and that oppression and tyranny have engulfed all aspects of the lives of the people of Kurdistan, including science and knowledge.
The successive regimes of Iraq have always been an iron barrier to the progress of the Kurds, and they have tried every way to stop the caravan of struggle, revolution, and progress and eventually destroy it. It was for this reason that on the morning of April 24, 1974, at 9:45 AM, several warplanes bombed the city of Qaladiza with banned napalm bombs. It poured its hatred and anger on the university, science, and the civilian population of that city, as it heavily targeted the university center and subjected this city to a tragedy that has no place in any moral, conscientious, or humanitarian standard. In the blink of an eye, 123 people, including women, children, the elderly, youth, students, teachers, workers, and farmers, were martyred, along with more than 400 people wounded.
This was the greatest tragic epic that occurred and merged with all the other epics of struggle and fighting of the Aylul Revolution , a gift full of shame from the Soviet Union and the allied Ba'ath government to the Kurds, which was described in the newspaper Le Monde on June 10, 1974, as the most terrible disaster.
The martyrs of this historical disaster were buried in the cemetery of the city of Qaladiza, and the name of the cemetery was named the Cemetery of the Martyrs of the Qaladiza Bombardment. Although this heart-wrenching disaster was a source of shame for the perpetrators, it also stirred the conscience of all Kurds and people of Kurdistan and became a living lesson in the heart of every freedom-seeker, which is commemorated every year. In the uprisings of 1982, 1983, and 1987, the anniversary of the Qaladiza bombardment was known as a historical day, and voices of protest were raised in all cities of Kurdistan by the masses against the Ba'ath regime. The residents of the city of Qaladiza commemorate this historical disaster annually with a march and condemn the perpetrators.
References:1- Khoshawi Ali Kanyelnji, Memoirs of Aziz Qazi Hamad Surchi, Daneshfar Printing House, Erbil, 2023.
2- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, Aylul Revolution 1961-1975, 1st ed., 2004.
3- Ari Karim, A few living pages in Aylul Revolution, Khabat Printing House, Duhok 1999.
4- Ismail Gunde-Zhori, The Aylul Revolution in Balakayati, Rojhalat Printing House, 1st ed., 2018.
5- Ibrahim Jalal, Southern Kurdistan and the Aylul Revolution Foundation and Collapse 1961-1975, 4th ed., 2021.