Qaladze ( ckb, قەڵادزێ, Qeladizê, ar, قلدز) is a town in
Kurdistan Region
Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
, north of
Sulaymaniyah
Sulaymaniyah, also spelled as Slemani ( ku, سلێمانی, Silêmanî, ar, السليمانية, as-Sulaymāniyyah), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, not far from the Iran–Iraq border. It is surrounded by the Azmar, G ...
, near the Iranian border. It is surrounded by mountains like many parts of Kurdistan. The town is located in the middle of Pshdar District.
Etymology
Qalladze means "Castle of Two Rivers" from the Kurdish words Qala= castle, dw= two and ze= river. In the southwest of the city there is a castle between two rivers.
History
The town was destroyed by
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
's government during the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
and all residents were forced to leave the town and moved to Bazzian and other parts of Iraqi Kurdistan, but mostly they were moved to some camps somewhere near Bazzian, a small town located west of Slemani. The people who have been moved, 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 the Iraqi government attacked it on April 24, 1974.
At 9.15am on Wednesday 24 April 1974, Qalladze 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 Qalladze on 1 April 1974 – under the command of leader
Mustafa Barzani
Mustafa Barzani ( ku, مەلا مستهفا بارزانی, Mistefa Barzanî; 14 March 1903 – 1 March 1979) also known as Mela Mustafa (Preacher Mustafa), was a Kurdish leader, general and one of the most prominent political figures in mod ...
who led the Kurdish revolution. More than 425 students and teachers re-located to Qalladze 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 Qalladze, the Ba’athist government had demolished the town of Qalladze and it is said that more than 132 children and students alone were killed during the attacks, with over 400 Kurds injured or missing. Although the exact number of victims is unclear, some estimate that over 350 people, including students and teachers died. 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 10 February 2013, the council ministers of the Kurdish Regional Government elected 24 April as the University Martyrs Day; a homage to the fallen martyrs of Sulaymaniyah University (now known as Salahaddin University).
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
with hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. Winter nights average below freezing and snow occasionally occurs.