University Martyrs Day 24 April

[Anthea]

University Martyrs Day 24 April for the fallen martyrs of Sulaymaniyah University

Qalladze or Qeladizê is a town of 140,000 inhabitants in the Kurdistan Regional Government region in Iraqi Kurdistan, north of Sulaymaniyah, near the Iranian border. Qaladiza means "Castle of Two Rivers" from the Kurdish words Qala= castle, dw= two and ze= river. In the south west of the town there is a small hill between two rivers.

It is surrounded by mountains like many parts of Kurdistan]. The town is located in a middle of "Peshdar". The whole town was devastated during the Iraq and Iran War and all residents were relocated to Bazian and other parts of Iraqi Kurdistan, but most of them in Bazzian, a small town located west of Sulaminia. The people of Qalaze stayed there until the Kurdish uprising against Saddam Hussein's regime in 1991. Then they came back to their land. The town has continued to expand. A branch of the Sulaimania University was established there in 1974, but Iraqi government attacked it in April 24, 1974.

At 9.15am on Wednesday 24 April 1974, Qaladze fell victim to Saddam Hussein first airstrike against the Kurds. It was rumoured that the town attracted the eye of Saddam Hussein because the University of Slemani* had temporarily relocated to Qaladze on the 1st April 1974 – under the command of leader Mustafa Barzani who led the Kurdish revolution.

More than 425 students and teachers re-located to Qaladze as a show of solidarity to Mustafa Barzani’s decision which angered the Ba’athi government. Bomber planes, rockets and internationally prohibited cannon fires set alight the town of Qaladze, the Ba’athist government had demolished the town of Qaladze and although we will never know an exact figure of fallen victims, it is said that more than 132 children and students alone were killed during the attacks, with over 400 Kurds injured or missing. Two days after the Iraqi government’s first airstrike on the Kurds, attentions were turned to the town of Halabja – the second victim of Saddam Hussein’s airstrikes.

on the 10th February 2013, the council ministers of the Kurdish Regional Government elected the 24thApril as the University Martyrs Day; a homage to the fallen martyrs of Sulaymaniyah University (now known as Salahaddin University)