7 March: The Day Sulaymaniyah Drove Out a Dictatorial Regime

PUKMEDIA

Amnsa Suraka, Sulaymaniyah in March 1991.

On Saturday, 7 March 2026, the people of Sulaymaniyah Governorate commemorated the anniversary of the city’s uprising against the Ba’athist dictatorship.

On this occasion, residents visited the graves of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of the Kurdish people from the tyranny of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

On 7 March 1991, Sulaymaniyah became the first major city to rise up against the dictatorship of the fallen Ba'ath Party in Iraq. Within two days, the city was liberated from the Ba’athist regime. The victory came at a heavy cost, with 121 martyrs and 45 people wounded.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) played a key role in organising and leading the Kurdish uprising. The party helped unite Kurdish political forces under the umbrella of the Kurdistan Front and prepared them for the struggle to overthrow the Ba’ath regime in Iraq.

The Kurdish people rose up on 5 March 1991 against Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. Fighters of the Peshmerga and the Kurdish people together wrote heroic chapters that led to the liberation of Kurdistan from the rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party.

The first spark of the uprising was ignited on 5 March 1991 in the city of Ranya in Sulaymaniyah Governorate. Each year, the people of Kurdistan Region commemorate this historic struggle carried out by an oppressed people against one of the most brutal dictatorial regimes, which subjected the Kurdish population to decades of repression and persecution.

The uprising quickly spread across the region. On 7 March 1991, the people of Sulaymaniyah rose up and seized control of security and administrative institutions, forcing the remnants of the former regime to flee. The city was fully liberated on 8 March 1991.

The uprising continued to expand, reaching Erbil on 11 March 1991 and ending decades of oppression in the city and other areas of Kurdistan.

The fighters of the uprising then continued their advance, liberating a number of cities and towns, including Duhok, Koya, Shaqlawa, Halabja, Amadiya, Makhmur, Zakho, Akre, Darbandikhan, Kalar, Penjwen and Said Sadiq, along with many districts and sub-districts across the Kurdistan Region.

The uprising eventually reached Kirkuk, which was liberated on 20 March 1991, marking the culmination of this historic struggle and the achievement of the goals for which the uprising had been launched.



PUKMEDIA