Shafaq News- Erbil

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Friday marked the 52nd anniversary of the 1974 bombing of Qaladze and the University of Al-Sulaymaniyah, calling it a failed attempt by the Baath regime to break Kurdish resistance.

In a statement, Barzani said targeting the university and Qaladze was a “desperate attempt” to crush the Kurdish liberation movement, adding that the victims’ sacrifices strengthened the push for freedom.

Qaladze and the Pshdar region, long strongholds of Kurdish resistance, deserve greater attention, he added.

The April 24, 1974 airstrike, which took place during the Second Iraqi-Kurdish War after the collapse of autonomy talks, killed and wounded hundreds, including students and lecturers, when Iraqi warplanes struck the town where the university had been relocated.