ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government highlighted its “rapid development,” on the 44th anniversary of the University of Sulaimania’s bombardment in Qaladze by the previous Iraqi regime.
“On that day, the former Iraqi government expressed its hatred by trying to destroy the city and the will of the people of Kurdistan. Bombing campaigns, chemical weapon attacks, community destruction, and forced dislocation were prevailing features of the Iraqi government,” read the KRG statement.
The bombings killed and wounded dozens of people on the morning of April 24, 1974, in Qaladze, located in Kurdish mountains of Sulaimani province just east of Lake Dukan.
“To overcome the neglect and destruction imposed, during decades, by the Iraqi successive governments on Iraqi Kurdistan , the Kurdistan Regional Government continues to rapidly develop and erase the negative economic, social, psychological, and cultural features of the past,” added the KRG statement.
The Aylul revolt, also known as the first Iraqi-Kurdish War, was a struggle for greater national rights for Kurds. It was led by Mullah Mustafa Barzani from 1961 until 1970. The war ended in a stalemate and an agreement between that promised greater Kurdish autonomy and roles in government. However the truce broke, as the Baath Party rose to power and pushed into oil-rich Kirkuk.
At the time, the University of Sulaimania was the only place for higher education in what is now the Kurdistan Region. It had a branch in Qaladze and hundreds of students and teachers went to the mountains of Qaladze branch to show solidarity for the resistance.
Kurdish leaders see the development of their education system as a positive step in the face of tyranny.
“From that one university in all of Iraqi Kurdistan, reconstruction, modernization, and urbanization have since produced 30 universities plus other institutions of higher education today,” tweeted Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the KRG representative to the United States.
The university campus is now a part of the University of Raparin.
“On that day, the former Iraqi government expressed its hatred by trying to destroy the city and the will of the people of Kurdistan. Bombing campaigns, chemical weapon attacks, community destruction, and forced dislocation were prevailing features of the Iraqi government,” read the KRG statement.
The bombings killed and wounded dozens of people on the morning of April 24, 1974, in Qaladze, located in Kurdish mountains of Sulaimani province just east of Lake Dukan.
“To overcome the neglect and destruction imposed, during decades, by the Iraqi successive governments on Iraqi Kurdistan , the Kurdistan Regional Government continues to rapidly develop and erase the negative economic, social, psychological, and cultural features of the past,” added the KRG statement.
The Aylul revolt, also known as the first Iraqi-Kurdish War, was a struggle for greater national rights for Kurds. It was led by Mullah Mustafa Barzani from 1961 until 1970. The war ended in a stalemate and an agreement between that promised greater Kurdish autonomy and roles in government. However the truce broke, as the Baath Party rose to power and pushed into oil-rich Kirkuk.
At the time, the University of Sulaimania was the only place for higher education in what is now the Kurdistan Region. It had a branch in Qaladze and hundreds of students and teachers went to the mountains of Qaladze branch to show solidarity for the resistance.
Kurdish leaders see the development of their education system as a positive step in the face of tyranny.
“From that one university in all of Iraqi Kurdistan, reconstruction, modernization, and urbanization have since produced 30 universities plus other institutions of higher education today,” tweeted Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the KRG representative to the United States.
The university campus is now a part of the University of Raparin.
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