Euskadi Ta Askatasuna

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Graffiti with ETA symbols in the Basque Country

The Euskadi Ta Askatasuna , or ETA for short , ( Basque for Basque Country and Freedom ) was a Marxist-Leninist , separatist Basque - nationalist underground organization until its dissolution on May 2, 2018 . It was founded in 1959 as a resistance movement against the Franco dictatorship and used mainly terrorist means, although several political parties stood by its side in the fight for Basque autonomy. In total, around 830 people were killed by the ETA. The ETA's first murder was committed on June 28, 1960.

The organization pursued the goal of a socialist Basque state independent of Spain , which would include the Spanish autonomous regions of Basque Country and Navarre as well as the French Basque Country , and continued its struggle even after Spain's transition from the Franco dictatorship to democracy .

In the transition years, many investigations were stopped when an amnesty law pardoned not only the henchmen of the Franco regime, but also ETA prisoners.

After a ceasefire was agreed in November 2011, the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna agreed a year later to dissolve and disarm if their demands were carried out by the Spanish government. The military operations were suspended from November 2011 until further notice, according to the conditions that Spain had set for the observance of the ceasefire. On April 8, 2017, after a unilateral announcement, ETA began the official handover of its weapons to the authorities. About 3.5 tons of weapons, explosives and other dangerous materials were handed over to the French police by intermediaries.

On April 2, 2018 it was announced that the ETA wanted to finally dissolve at the end of May / beginning of June. ETA took this step following a survey of around 287 members detained in France and Spain over the past few months. Only ten percent are said to have voted against the dissolution. At the beginning of May, through the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, she announced that, after an internal vote with 93 percent approval, she had dissolved all her structures and drawn a line under the violence at a peace congress. Victims' associations accused the Spanish government of letting ETA dictate the script, and David Harland of the Center spoke of a long period for wound healing to come.

Goals and ideology

Location of the Basque Country in Spain and France

The aim of ETA was to establish a socialist Basque nationalist state in which the Basque people should exercise social and political sovereignty . This model of a left-wing nationalist state was called Euskal Herria and envisaged complete self-determination for the Basques, through their own socialist government and their own armed forces.

The expansion of the Basque Country was politically and socially controversial and stood in the field of tension between Basque, Spanish and French nationalism . Basque nationalism, first theorized by the social democratic politician Sabino Arana Goiri in 1895, demanded the cultural, political, social, economic and geographical independence of the Basque Country, which has been under Spanish rule since 1076, the year the kingdom of Pamplona was dissolved . Arana Goiri's political theories have been taken up by many Basques since the early years of the 20th century, with the nationalist Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV), founded by him and other autonomists at the beginning of the century , becoming the strongest political force in the Basque Country (see section Prehistory ) . The increasing radicalization of nationalism and the adoption of social communist ideas by autonomist workers and student organizations led to the birth of the ETA.

The nationalist idea of ​​ETA went in part against the ideals of traditional nationalism of the PNV and the intellectuals around Arana Goiri, who has an archaic and rural conception of the cultural and social origins of the Basque people. For the Basque left nationalists, whose most radical front was the ETA, the concept of Basque origin was more historically characterized by the Basque language, the Euskera . In addition, the Abertzales ("Patriots"), as the social communist autonomists (among them the ETA) are called, want to unite this interpretation of the traditional nationalist idea with the social reality of a modern society. H. update them by means of the Marxist demands of the workers and student formations and the revolutionary concepts of the left intellectual elite. The ideology of the Abertzale Left and the ETA therefore consisted of a mixture of traditional nationalism, especially its linguistic and cultural side, and Marxist-revolutionary perspectives. In this environment, the ETA developed into a national revolutionary movement within the Abertzale Left , which adopted both Basque nationalist concepts and Marxist-Leninist ideals. As expressed by leadership member Federico Krutwig during the third ETA meeting:

“No national liberation can do without a social, political and economic revolution […]. The peoples who do not suffer from a foreign oppressive power are [...] unable to recognize the enormous revolutionary and progressive power of the anti-colonialist struggle! […] The Basque liberation struggle is an essential part of the liberation struggle of all peoples oppressed by colonial imperialism! Revolutionary nationalism is that form of struggle which these peoples, including the Basques, must take up! "

- Documentation: Josemari Lorenzo Espinosa: The revolutionary nationalism - historical analysis of a text by Federico Krutwig published in 1966 in the Branka magazine , June 20, 2013 - Original text: Nacionalismo Revolucionario , Branka magazine, no. 1 (April 1966), Ediciones Vascas in the 1979 edition

According to an assessment by Werner J. Marti in the NZZ in spring 2018, the ETA had not achieved any of its goals with its terror.

Inner structure

Military organization

The highest level of command of the ETA consisted of the Army Council (Basque: Zuzendaritza Batzordea , or Zuba for short ), to which 6 to 11 people belonged. Among these, the President of Zubas was elected, who also became the leader of the entire organization: from 2006 until their arrest, Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina ( Txeroki ) and Francisco Javier López Peña ( Thierry ) shared this place, followed by Gurbita and Joan Martitegi and Josu Ternera. The Army Council continued to be divided into eleven smaller structures responsible for logistics, politics, collaboration with other organizations, military operations, supplies, support for imprisoned members, intelligence and espionage, collecting money, recruiting and negotiating with the Spanish government. Military actions were carried out by commandos (Basque: Taldes ), which consisted of 3 to 4 members and resembled the Active Service Units of the Irish Provisional IRA . To support the Taldes, there were numerous hidden rooms (Basque: Zulos ) in Basque and Spanish villages in which weapons, ammunition, explosives, documents or kidnapped victims were hidden. Wanted members of the Taldes stayed overnight or hid in Zulos or in safe houses, which mostly belonged to sympathizers of the ETA or the organization itself. In addition, a group of members and intellectuals occupied themselves with the publication of the newspaper and the bulletin of the organization, called Kolonne (Basque: addition ).

Members

Member of the ETA Army Council and Batasuna MP Arnaldo Otegi at a demonstration, 2006

ETA fighters (Basque: Etarra ) were classified by the organization in three categories: Legal members (Basque: Legalak ) had no previous convictions, lived a normal life and were not suspected by the security forces of being militants of the organization. The legalaks' task was mostly to store weapons and other material as well as outlawed etarras . Illegal members and wanted by the police (Basque: Erretako ) were hidden by the ETA in Zulos or the safe apartments of Legalaks and sympathizers, received a monthly pension and carried out the armed actions. Detained and released members (Basque: Kaleratu ) also received a monthly pension but did not take part in armed actions.

In 1970 the Spanish government estimated the number of ETA members to be more than 300 active fighters. In 1975, following the infiltration of a Spanish secret agent of the SECID, more than 150 members of the ETA were arrested in Spain and the Basque Country, but most of them were pardoned a few months later by the general amnesty of Prince Juan Carlos I. After these arrests, the organization increased its internal security by eliminating numerous suspected spies and banning direct contact between the Etarras of different valleys . In 1980 the membership of the ETA was again estimated at more than 200 fighters. After the founding of the Batasuna , many Etarras left the organization and thus the active service to work in the party and continue the struggle on a political path.

In 2011 the ETA consisted of around 100 members.

Social composition

Most of the Etarras who were in active service with the organization between 1965 and 1980 and who took part in armed actions came from families of the Basque middle class, mostly from larger cities. Only about 25% of the people arrested in 2005 were women, but there is little data on the presence of women in the Zuba : only one woman, Iratxe Sorzabal Diaz, was able to take over the top management of the ETA for a few months, and another, Izaskun Lesaka, became the coordinator of the organization's armed commandos in 2012 and controlled their entire arsenal. However, no precise sources are available on the social composition of the ETA.

A relatively large proportion of their fighters consisted of students and young people who had already had street fighting and protest experience , often members of the ultra-left Basque nationalist youth organization SEGI and its sister groups Kimuak and Ikasle Abertzaleak . In 2010 the Spanish police published the names of 14 SEGI members who had actively joined the ETA during the year; three of the youths, aged between 18 and 30, were arrested a year later in Rome. A smaller proportion of ETA members were manual workers. As a rule, all members had to give up their normal life after the first armed actions, as they were searched for by security forces. It was therefore not uncommon for a member to join the organization as a youth and stay underground with other ETA fighters for years until he was arrested.

Imprisoned Members

In 2003 there were 508 ETA members in custody in Spain and 115 in France. In Spain, prisoners are distributed in prisons in different parts of the country: This is a circumstance that has been criticized time and again by relatives of the prisoners, as the legal regulation provides for the detainees to be accommodated locally.

Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International (AI) are repeatedly accused of systematically torturing Basque prisoners in Spain. Spain's refusal to implement minimum international standards for the protection of inmates, especially the extension of the ban on contact without a lawyer, without medical supervision and without the right to information from the outside world, is criticized by AI and the European Committee against Torture. While AI also appealed to ETA to protect human rights in the region, the UN Human Rights Commission has repeatedly warned Spain about serious human rights violations, especially in the Basque Country.

Training and arming

Place of death of a Basque Ertzaintza after an ETA bomb attack, 2009

ETA has had close ties with the IRA and the Algerian GIA at various times . Members were trained in Libya, Lebanon and Nicaragua from the early 1970s. Other possible supporters were Iran and Cuba.

The main weapons of the ETA were small firearms, such as pistols or submachine guns . Larger rifles, such as the M16 , AK-47, or AR-18 found in the IRA's arsenal, were rarely used by the organization. The most widely used weapons were pistols of the SIG Sauer P226 and Firebird models , as well as submachine guns of the Uzi , Sa 23 and HK MP5 types . Until the late 1970s, these weapons were purchased by ETA on the international black market , but from the early 1980s the organization was able to purchase larger supplies through collaboration with the Italian Camorra , Mexican cartels and South American criminals.

Contact with other organizations

In addition to the Marxist-revolutionary FARC-EP in Colombia, the ETA has also collaborated with other Spanish and international liberation fronts in the course of its history. The most important of these were the Catalan underground organization Terra Lliure , the Italian Marxist-Leninist revolutionary front of the Brigate Rosse as well as the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland and the Palestine Liberation Organization .

  • The terrorist group Terra Lliure , active from 1978 to 1995 , established contact with ETA in 1980. Several militants of the Catalan Liberation Front were trained and armed by the ETA in northern Spain and carried out several explosive attacks in the following years, which are attributed to the ETA.
  • The splinter group of the Italian Brigate Rosse (German: Red Brigades ), called Nuove Brigate Rosse (German: New Red Brigades ), which was active from 1990 to 2004 , first contacted ETA in 2002. During negotiations in Chiavari in 2003, the BR concluded some arms deals with the Basque organization.
  • The IRA, which was active in Ireland from 1960 to 1997, contacted the ETA in the 1970s. From 1975 onwards there was an arms trade and various training meetings between the two organizations. The IRA sold several SAM missiles to ETA in 1999 , which were supposed to be used to shoot down José María Aznar's private plane. However, the missiles failed three times after Etarras sent a letter of protest to Belfast. A unit of the British Military Intelligence Service was summoned to Spain in 2002 to investigate a terror network that existed between the IRA and ETA. Links between the IRA and the ETA still exist today.
  • The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the ETA first made contact in the late 1970s. Spanish and Israeli security forces claim that Etarras and PLO fighters were trained together in terror camps in Gaza and Lebanon . The two organizations have conducted international arms trafficking, including with the IRA.

Occur

Symbols and slogans

Group of Basque Political Prisoners 2008 (733 people, many of them ETA members or sympathizers), in a poster by Gestoras pro-Amnistía (now declared illegal)

The ETA's motto was Bietan Jarrai (“Forward on both paths”). This font has been in the official ETA logo since the 1970s under the two symbols of the snake and the ax (sometimes also the double ax ). The snake symbolized the ruse that had to be used in negotiations with the Spanish state and armed actions, the ax symbolized the hardship in battle. ETA members and sympathizers of the organization use the slogan Gora ETA! (German: cheers for the ETA! ): Etarras also made use of it when they were arrested or in court. Other expressions that demonstrated the loyalty of those speaking to the organization at meetings and public demonstrations and events were Gora ETA militarra (German: A cheer for the military ETA ) and Gora Batasuna (German: A cheer for unity ). Shouting Gora ETA at marches was seen in the Spanish Justice Code as a glorification of terrorism. Radical slogans of the Basque nationalist left such as Borroka da bide bakarra (German: The fight is the only way ), Gora Euskal Herria (German: A cheer for a free and socialist Basque Country ) and Askatasuna Behar Du (German: Forward to freedom ) were also used.

Recognition of the court

In the Palace of Justice Etarras and other members of the ETA or Batasuna appeared to judges and lawyers with provocative and contemptuous attitudes. The Spanish legal system was fundamentally not recognized by the imprisoned Basque nationalists. Overall, the Spanish judiciary was publicly referred to as “occupation justice” by radical nationalists and the Abertzale left. Accused ETA fighters refused to obey the court's instructions and give answers on the witness stand, and kicked judges and juries shouting Gora ETA! and Me dais asco! (German: you disgust me! ) opposite.

Terror and Combat Tactics

ETA has used various tactics since its inception:

Bombs
Car bombs , letter bombs , explosive devices, incendiary devices and time bombs have been used by the organization since 1960. For this purpose, mostly black powder , ammonal and plastic explosives , especially the Czech Semtex as well as C4 , RDX and TNT, were used. Sometimes the organization issued a warning to security agencies or magazines before the attack.
Targeted murders
The target of these actions were police officers, politicians, journalists and other people. Often these were killed by an explosive device or a booby trap, as in the 1973 assassination attempt on Admiral Carrero Blanco. The murder on the street or in one's own home as well as the kidnapping and execution of the target were also carried out by the ETA.
Targeted injuries
Police officers, politicians, journalists and minor Basque criminals were also targeted. These were wounded with firearms through a valley to leave a warning. As in Northern Ireland , kneecapping was used against criminals as a social punishment or warning: a gunshot destroyed the victim's kneecap .
kidnapping
The kidnapping of people (politicians or journalists, but also Basque entrepreneurs) served both political and financial purposes. Often the kidnapped targets were only released in exchange for a ransom or the release of detained Etarra .
Street fight
ETA and Batasuna youth organizations such as Jarrai , Haika and Segi carried out street battles (Basque: Kale Borroka ) at demonstrations, events and protest marches and attacked police and security forces with Molotov cocktails , stones and iron bars and firearms.
Revolutionary tax collection
The ETA's collection of extorted protection funds was carried out throughout the Basque Country and Basque France. The organization made about a million dollars in profit that way.
Bank robberies and robberies
Since its inception, ETA has been raiding French and Spanish banks to self-finance, generating an annual profit of $ 500,000. The organization also robbed casinos , arms dealers and wealthy Basques who are known as "enemies of the people".

Political fronts and parapolitical campaigns

Abertzale- Left and Radical Nationalist Parties

Abertzale- Left and members of the Batasuna party demonstrate in 2008 against the internment of ETA prisoners in Bilbao

The Abertzale Left (Basque: Ezker abertzalea ) are social-communist and nationalist parties, political groups and organizations on the political scene in the Basque Country. A real Abertzale front emerged in the 1970s when radical left-wing nationalists united to form the Batasuna party . Many of the members of the Marxist-autonomist-oriented formation, which did not publicly detest the use of force against Spanish “occupation forces”, sympathized ideologically with the ETA. Several Batasuna leaders were arrested and charged during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s for membership in the militant core of ETA. Some, like Josu Ternera and Arnaldo Otegi , were sentenced to prison terms. In October 2002 the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón banned all activities of the Batasuna for a period of three years on the grounds that it was part of the ETA. In 2003, following a government motion, the party was banned by the Supreme Court; the ban was later upheld by the Spanish Constitutional Court and in 2009 by the European Court of Human Rights . Over the years several other political organizations have been referred to as ETA-related by Spanish and international sources, including the parties Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista (EHAK), Eusko Abertzale Ekintza - Acción Nacionalista Vasca (EAE-ANV) (also banned by the Spanish Court of Justice) , Amaiur , Sortu and Bildu as well as the Euskal Herria Bildu (EH-Bildu) coalition .

Unions

The Langile Abtertzaleen Batzordeak (German: Patriotic Workers Committee , LAB) is a socialist-oriented organization within the Basque trade union movement. It is considered nationalist-revolutionary and is part of the Abertzale Left. The union also includes many members of the nationalist parties Batasuna and Bildu . The LAB was founded in 1974 as a mass organization of the nationalist-socialist Basque workers and emerged from the union of the Comisiones Obreras Representativas (German: Representative Workers Commissions , COR) and the Comisiones Obreras Abertzales ( Patriotic-Left Workers Commissions , COA). The founding principle was the “liberation of the Basque working class”. Among the LAB founders are well-known nationalist leaders Jon Idigoras and Xabier Elorriaga. On April 9, 1995, the LAB began to work with the PNV-affiliated trade union Eusko Langileen Alkartasuna ( Solidarity of Basque Workers , ELA). The first demands were unionized labor relations between Basque workers and Spanish companies. In addition, the two unions demanded the self-determination of the Basque labor movement, an end to Spanish repression and negotiations with the ETA. In 1997, the relationship between the two unions was broken because the LAB refused to officially condemn the ETA murders.

In the early years of the 21st century the LAB strengthened its relations with other Basque trade unions. For example, the Abertzale Workers' Union, with the groups ELA, STEE-EILAS, EHNE and Hiru, participates in a joint trade union project, which is often referred to as the Basque majority union, formulates joint demands and organizes joint actions, protests, street demonstrations and general strikes. The LAB today has around 45,000 members and more than 3,300 union representatives. After the Batasuna party was banned in 2003, the LAB was the only major legal organization of the Basque Abertzale movement for six years (until the Bildu party was founded ) . From 2009 to 2012 this situation changed with the appearance of the political formations Bildu , which consists largely of members of the Batasuna , and Sortu . The LAB has been considered "radical" by the Spanish Supreme Court since its inception. In 2003, parts of the union were described as close to ETA and “militantly violent”. An attempt to explain the LAB illegal, was the Constitutional Court amid concerns of the 22nd article of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Spain , the right of association and freedom of trade unions and parties promises rejected.

Youthful fronts

Three youthful Basque nationalist organizations were ruled illegal by the Spanish court for suspected contact with ETA.

Jarrai

Jarrai , a youth organization founded in Leioa in 1979 , operated organized street violence in the Spanish Basque Country from 1980. In 1992, radical militant parts of the organization formed a sabotage network ( Y-Kommando ), which in the following years carried out dozens of smaller attacks in Basque cities. The Spanish National Court Office in the Audiencia Nacional accused Jarrai of “cooperation with the ETA” in 1999; a year later, all Jarrai activities were banned. This was justified by the Court on the argument that Jarrai was closely linked to the ETA in its sabotage and street fighting. The charge was that Jarrai supported the terrorist organization "with the recruitment of new members and with training courses in the use of explosives and firearms".

Haika

In September 2000, one month after the proceedings initiated by Garzón that led to the banning of the Batasuna party , Haika , the youthful arm of the Batasuna successor party EHAK , was officially founded in Bilbao . The new grouping was immediately identified by the Spanish Court of Justice as the “successor” of the Jarrai , which was banned between 1999 and 2000 , and a few months later a case against Haika was initiated in the Audiencia Nacional. Haika was in fact the continuation of the Jarrai , whose members had re-formed in France after the ban by the Spanish court together with the Gazteriak group, which was also illegal in Spain . About 20,000 young people attended the first meeting. A few months after the founding of this new group, ETA assured its support in a communiqué. According to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, almost all ETA fighters active in 2008 came from an experience in Haika . On May 10, 2001, Judge Garzón banned all activities of the organization he called Jarrai-Haika . A month later, Haika was finally banned as a "radical, militant and violent terrorist organization". Garzón said of the youth group that it serves the ETA as a "quarry for future members", described Haika as a "criminal and terrorist gang" and as "an integral part of the terrorist structure of the ETA". About 50 Haika activists in Spain and France have been arrested for membership of an illegal organization, and several have been sentenced to prison terms.

Political campaigns: Euskal Presoak Euskal Herrira

Both the legal fronts of ETA and the organization itself organized major rallies in Basque cities. Sympathizers, left-wing nationalists and young people demonstrated every week in different Basque locations to protest against the unjust treatment or conviction of imprisoned members and for the legalization of ETA-affiliated parties, groups and political formations. One of the main points of the ETA-related campaigns was the transfer of Basque political prisoners (both members of the organization and young people arrested in Kale-Borroka street battles) from penal institutions in Spain to special prisons in the Basque Country, under the motto Euskal Presoak Euskal Herrira (German: Basque prisoners in the Basque Country ). In addition, the ETA held events in honor of their fallen on the day of the Basque war dead ( Gudari Eguna ), at which Batasuna politicians and sometimes masked Etarras appeared, who fired gun salutes in front of the crowd. Often, during such actions, violent conflicts broke out between those present and the Basque Ertzaintza , which is responsible for containing riots and crowd and riot control .

Support the ETA

According to the Euskobarometro , a survey carried out by the Universidad del País Vasco (University of the Basque Country) on the support of the ETA by the Basque population, the following results were obtained in May 2009: 64% of the Basques surveyed rejected both the ETA's methods and ideology completely abandoned, 13% described themselves as former ETA sympathizers, whose support for the armed organization had decreased significantly or had even broken off. Another 10% agreed with ETA's goals and ideology but loathed its methods. 3% said they were anxious about their attitude towards the ETA, while 3% expressed indifference and another 3% were undecided or did not respond. Around 4% identified themselves as supporters of the ETA whose activity was "justified", but some criticized its actions and only 1.5% of the Basques gave full support to the terrorist organization. A second survey, within the Batasuna voters and the Abertzale left, gave mixed results: 48% of the respondents rejected the violence of the ETA, 49% found the activities of the ETA justified and saw the reason for their terrorist actions in the brutality of the Spanish state.

A third survey, conducted by the Basque government during the ETA ceasefire in December 2006, found that for 88% of the Basques, the solution to the conflict was an open dialogue between all parties and groups involved, including a discussion of the political situation in the Basque Country. 69% of the respondents supported a referendum to ratify the results of this dialogue (such as social, economic and political autonomy of the Basque Country, constitutional status of the Basque Country, amnesty for political prisoners, etc.). The poll also showed that Basque hopes for a peaceful solution to the conflict had fallen to 78% (from 90% in April, the month in which ETA announced the ceasefire). However, these polls did not cover Navarre , where left nationalism is historically weaker than in the central areas of the Basque Country (around 25% of Navarre's population chooses PNV, 7% the Abertzale- Left), and the northern regions, where nationalist support is even weaker was (approx. 15% of the population votes for the PNV, 4% for the Abertzale- Left).

history

prehistory

Beginning of the nationalist movement

The icurriña, traditional flag of the Basque Country as well as the Basque separatist movement

The founder of Basque nationalism is Sabino Arana Goiri , who on July 31, 1895 founded the Basque Nationalist Party ( Partido Nacionalista Vasco , also known as PNV and in Basque Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea ). He also wrote various writings on the Basque nation, its history and traditions and its relationship to Spain. Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea , who is oriented towards social democracy, has always fought for the independence of the Basque Country on a peaceful basis and democratically and received a very high percentage of votes in the Basque Country in the first democratic elections in Spain. However, splinter groups were already forming around 1920, such as the student association Aberri , whose extreme positions considered an armed struggle and the use of force to be justified. This group perceived the Spanish state as an oppressive occupying power. The repressive policies of the Spanish monarchy, which were not tempered by the transition to democracy in the 1930s, forbade the traditions and language of the Basque people, as well as the public display of the irciña .

Radicalization

In 1934 radical members of the PNV and the Aberri left the parties to oppose the policies of the Spanish state, which were perceived as repressive restrictions on Basque freedom. They formed a militant and violent wing that took the name Jagi-Jagi and published a newspaper. The Jagi-Jagi moved from radical nationalism to independentism and was banned a few weeks after it was founded. Thereupon its members went underground and prepared, together with anarchist associations like the libertarian combat group Los Solidarios around the wanted by the police Francisco Ascaso and Buenaventura Durruti in Spain and France various attacks against representatives of the Spanish state. The Aberri also declined after it was banned in the underground and organized armed resistance.

Spanish Civil War

Members of the Eusko Gudarostea and the Jagi-Jagi in Gipuzkoa, 1937

The first armed actions of the Aberri and Jagi-Jagi took place in the Spanish Civil War , from which the general and later dictator Francisco Franco emerged victorious in 1939. In the Basque Country, Franco's offensive was particularly brutal, and the first large-scale and illegal bombing attack on the unfortified city of Guernica by the German Condor Legion took place . The membership of the Jagi-Jagi and the other militant Basque formations fought together with the Basque Social Democrats of the PNV under the name Euzko Gudarostea (Basque Army) on the side of the republican troops. The supreme command took over José Antonio Aguirre , chairman of the PNV. In addition to the Euzko Gudarostea , an independent government of the Basque Country was set up by the Spanish Republic, whose task was the defense of this area. However, the militant formations did not participate in the new Basque Parliament.

repression

After the victory of Franco and the occupation of the Basque Country, Basque nationalism was forced into illegality for decades: the Euzko Gudarostea , the Basque government and the PNV, Jagi-Jagi and Aberri were dissolved. Basque Army leaders and politicians were arrested, executed or forced into exile . This repression, which included mass arrests and the internment of any separatists, led to both an ideological consolidation and a further radicalization of Basque nationalism. The Jagi-Jagi went underground again and, together with remnants of the Republican Army, organized the armed resistance against the Frankist troops, also known as the Spanish Maquis , which lasted until 1957.

The ETA in French-speaking Spain

Foundation of ETA

Interview with EKIN and ETA founding member Txillardegi (in Basque), 2011

After the anti-Franco guerrilla was suppressed by the Spanish government in 1957, new separatist and left-wing nationalist groups formed in various Basque towns. The most influential and largest of these was the EKIN , which consisted primarily of students and workers and adopted the ideology and theory of the militant and violent separatists of the Jagi-Jagi and the Aberri . On July 31, 1959, members of the EKIN and another group of young Basques, mainly students from the Jesuit University of Bilbao and members of the PNV youth association, founded the Euskadi ta Askatasuna . According to a popular belief, the founding date of the organization fell on July 31, the day the PNV was founded, and at the same time the day of Ignatius of Loyola , a Jesuit saint of Basque origin. The founders of ETA disapproved of the fact that the now no longer illegal PNV and the other Basque nationalists had come to a compromise with the Franco dictatorship after the end of the resistance in 1957. In their eyes this meant a betrayal of the war dead and Basque victims of the dictatorship. In return, the ETA advocated a more radical course, which was more oriented towards the independence efforts of Sabino Aranas and the Jagi-Jagi . At the same time, ETA criticized the founders of the PNV, whose idea of ​​a Basque origin was racist-nationalist, and contradicted this theory with a cultural concept in which the Basque language and not origin played a role. The organization found models for the armed struggle in the Irish Republican Army , the Viet Cong fighting in Indochina , the FLN movement in Algeria and other national revolutionary groups.

An ETA valley at the commemoration ceremony in honor of the Basque fallen, Aritxulegi (Guipuzkoa) 2006

In 1962, the first ETA meeting took place in a monastery in the French town of Bellocq . At this meeting a manifesto was drawn up in which ETA describes itself as a “revolutionary underground organization” whose goal was to achieve “the final and uncompromising independence of the Basque region”. For this purpose the use of force, terrorism and military force was to be used and the ETA began to accumulate weapons , explosives and ammunition in Bilbao from its inception . The organization developed ideologically in the first few years of its existence in the field of tension between a national revolutionary and a socialist orientation.

Activity in the dictatorship

ETA and Batasuna Memorial March in honor of the Basque fallen, Aritxulegi (Guipuzkoa) 2006

The first violent act resulting in death, which is assigned to the ETA, took place on June 28, 1961. Several people were injured in a bomb attack in the Amara train station in San Sebastián and the one and a half year old Begoña Urroz Ibarrola was killed. ETA had previously derailed a train during one of its first actions. In 1965, the organization began raiding and raising "revolutionary taxes" in areas under its control. Other ETA attacks were usually aimed at police officers, such as the second fatal attack on June 7, 1968 in Villabona , as well as the military and representatives of the Franco regime. The police and the Spanish secret service responded with severe repression against sympathizers of the organization, demonstrating students and striking workers. This brought much of the initially peaceful Basque student movement of 1968 to armed struggle and many of the Basque youth joined the ETA. In the actions of the ETA, however, completely uninvolved persons were repeatedly victims, especially in bomb attacks and explosives attacks. At the same time, ETA members organized street fights in Basque cities during nationalist events, which were increasingly attacked by the police.

The most momentous blow by the ETA came on December 20, 1973, when a bomb attack on the Spanish Prime Minister and Franco's successor-designate Luis Carrero Blanco killed him and his armed escort. As every day, Blanco had attended morning mass in the church near his apartment and was driving his car when three explosive charges exploded under the car in a tunnel dug by the ETA militants for this purpose under Claudio Coello Street Carrero Blanco and his companions killed. The explosive device was so powerful that the President's car was thrown 30 meters high. This action met with goodwill both in Basque nationalist circles and among non-nationalist anti-Franco opponents, but there were only a few publicly who showed their joy. As a result of this attack, the Franco regime intensified political repression against the Basques.

The ETA in democratic Spain

Memory of Admiral Carrero Blanco, who died in an ETA bomb attack in 1973, Madrid 2006

The ETA remained the only organization to offer armed resistance to the dictatorship until the fall of the Franco regime in 1975, and this earned it the sympathies of part of Spanish society as well as much of the Basques. After the transition to democracy in 1975, however, the continuation of the radical struggle by the ETA was viewed by many Spaniards, including in the Basque Country, as sheer and unnecessary terrorism , which prevented peaceful coexistence in the country. A nonviolent and democratic transition to independence was now seen by many Basques and ETA sympathizers as possible after the end of the repressive dictatorship. Critics therefore accused the ETA in particular of making normal political life in the Basque Country impossible, for example through threats and assassinations against socialist and conservative politicians or blackmailing entrepreneurs.

Activity during the transition to democracy

In October 1974 the ETA split into a political-military majority (ETA / PM) and a smaller military arm (ETA / M). During the transition to democracy, this led to a two-part development of the organization. The majority of the politico-military ETA accepted the amnesty offered by the Spanish government for the ETA members arrested during the Franco regime, whereupon the prisoners were released, even if they had committed serious crimes. From then on, ETA / PM rejected the use of force to achieve its goals and joined the legal political party Euskadiko Ezkerra , ( Left of the Basque Country ) from 1982 onwards . This party later merged with the regional division of the PSOE .

The military arm of the ETA, on the other hand, radicalized itself further and increasingly carried on the strategy of armed struggle, although it still found a certain sympathy and support both in the Basque Country and in the Marxist and revolutionary circles of Spain. At the same time, the organization broadened the aims of its actions and, since the late 1970s, directed its struggle against Basque politicians and journalists who are accused by the ETA of collaborating with Spain.

Activity in democracy

Memories of the militants Txiki and Otaegi who died in a mission in 1973 , Bilbao 2013

With the adoption of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Spain in 1978 and the Statute of Autonomy for the Basque Country on December 22, 1979, the Basque provinces were granted extensive autonomy rights. After this political event, ETA formed the legal party Herri Batasuna in the same year , which was considered the political arm of the organization and was represented in the Basque regional parliament with 18% of the total vote. However, the armed organization continued the fight against the Spanish institutions and escalated the conflict in the early 1980s. From 1983, with the tolerance and even support of the ruling PSOE, death squads appeared for the first time , whose attacks were directed against ETA members, sympathizers and Basque left-wing separatists. These groups called themselves Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL, Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups ) and until 1987 carried out several assassinations, kidnappings and acts of torture, in which a total of 28 people died. The GAL not only killed and tortured ETA militants, but also attacked civilians, Batasuna politicians , Basque Marxists and separatist activists unrelated to ETA in any way. This phase of the fight against ETA terrorism is known as guerra sucia ( dirty war ) and, above all, contributed to giving ETA another justification in the fight against the Spanish state, not only in the Basque Country. However, since the late 1970s there have been repeated talks between members of the Spanish government and the organization, which on several occasions led to temporary truces. In February 1981, during the term of office of Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo ( UCD ), ETA announced a first ceasefire that lasted a year.

In September 1985, ETA detonated a car bomb in Madrid; One civilian who passed by died in the explosion and 16 others were injured. On June 19, 1987, the organization detonated an explosive device in a Hipercor supermarket in Barcelona, killing 21 people and injuring 45. The ETA had issued a warning, but as the bomb could not be found and a false alarm was ultimately assumed, the police did not evacuate the building. On January 28, 1988, ETA offered the government of Felipe González (PSOE) a second ceasefire, during which a negotiated solution to the Basque conflict was to be found. The secret contacts between the Spanish government and ETA took place in Algeria and finally failed on April 4, 1989. Shortly afterwards, the organization resumed armed operations and shortly afterwards carried out a fatal attack on a Spanish police officer. In 1995 the ETA carried out a bomb attack on opposition leader José María Aznar , which he survived with minor injuries. A year later, Aznar's Partido Popular (PP) won the Spanish parliamentary elections and took over government.

In June 1996, the ETA offered the new government a one-week ceasefire, this time calling on the Spanish state to take the political initiative to resolve the Basque conflict. After the PP did not take any steps to negotiate, the separatists resumed the attacks. On July 10, 1997, ETA kidnapped 29-year-old Miguel Ángel Blanco , a member of the PP city council of the Basque city of Ermua . For the release of the politician, the armed organization demanded the return of all detained militants to the Basque Country within 48 hours. This led to demonstrations across Spain for his release, but Ángel was murdered by his kidnappers after the ultimatum expired. The great media coverage of the action once again led to a permanent delegitimisation of the ETA in large areas of Spanish society, with millions of people demonstrating against the ETA in Spain. Another consequence of Angel's assassination is the founding of the Foro de Ermua , an association in which intellectuals like Fernando Savater turned against Basque nationalism.

On September 16, 1998, the ETA again announced that it would cease its actions, and the negotiations culminated in several meetings in Zurich between Spanish politicians and ETA commanders. However, the organization ended the ceasefire, which had been announced as "unlimited and unconditional" in November 1999. In 2000, at the suggestion of the then opposition leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero , the PP and PSOE concluded the so-called anti - terrorist pact , in which they agreed on a common approach to combat the ETA. As part of these measures, the Batasuna was banned in 2003 , as the Spanish Supreme Court found it proven that Batasuna was the political arm of ETA and, among other things, served to finance the terrorist organization. In the following years, various other parties, such as Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista or Acción Nacionalista Vasca, were identified and banned as the successor to the Batasuna . However, this was criticized by the entire Basque community, which saw the abolition of these political subjects as a criminalization of Basque nationalism. The Basque regional parliament accused the PP and PSOE of using legal means to influence its composition.

On February 18, 2004, ETA announced at a press conference in Perpignan the definitive end of armed actions in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia . This announcement was the result of talks between the organization and its then leaders Josu Ternera and Mikel Antza , the Catalan left-wing nationalist Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and its chairman Josep Lluís Carod Rovira . In the spring of 2004, ETA was suspected of being responsible for the devastating Madrid train attacks of March 11th. However, it quickly emerged that the bombs had been planted by Islamist terrorists. The strategy of the ETA was nevertheless severely weakened by the tightened security measures. In addition, after March 11, the rejection of terrorism as a means of implementing political goals became a bipartisan consensus that the separatists' political arm could not escape from. As a result, there were only a few actions by ETA after 2004, mainly minor bomb attacks with no fatalities, and on January 16, 2005 the organization offered to resolve the conflict in the Basque Country by peaceful means. The proposal was rejected by the Spanish government, however, as the ETA had ruled out the requirement to put down the weapons permanently.

Activity since 2006

The destroyed car park at Madrid Barajas airport after the ETA bomb attack in 2006

On March 22, 2006, the ETA finally announced a long-awaited permanent ceasefire, which came into force on the 24th. The organization also expressed the expectation that a democratic process in the Basque Country could be initiated to end the conflict. The democratic parties in Spain welcomed this move, and in a further communiqué, ETA concretized its ideas for a permanent ceasefire on the website of the Basque newspaper Gara . The Spanish government under Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (PSOE) then started negotiations, but stressed that it would not pay a “political price” for ending terrorism. The Partido Popular accused Zapatero of breaking the anti-terrorist pact and made the ongoing negotiations the focus of their criticism of the government. This topic was also controversial within ETA: Commander Josu Ternera, as well as Arnaldo Otegi and other important members of the banned Batasuna party supported the dialogue. Imprisoned militants also sided with Ternera, as did most of the sympathizers. Other members, in particular Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina , battle name Txeroki , called for Ternera to return to violence, which was seen as the only means to end the conflict.

Txeroki took power within ETA in December 2006, and the ceasefire was finally ended on December 30th with an explosives attack on Madrid-Barajas airport . Two Ecuadorians died in the process, and Zapatero then suspended the dialogue that had started. On June 5, 2007, ETA finally declared its ceasefire over. It announced that it would resume the armed struggle “on all fronts” and, after the arrest of the Batasuna party leadership , carried out a first bomb attack in Bilbao in October of the same year , in which the bodyguard of a socialist local politician was seriously injured. On March 7, 2008, two days before the parliamentary elections in Spain, Isaias Carrasco, a former local politician of the ruling PSOE, was shot dead in his Basque hometown. Two ETA members were arrested in France in 2012 and charged with murder.

Activity abroad

The evaluation of the ETA by foreign countries had also seen a change after the transition to democracy. During the dictatorship - and a few years after the transition to democracy - the French government, for example, tolerated ETA's actions. Confessing members of the organization were able to move freely on French soil at this time, as the French government assumed that such a policy was appropriate to hasten the end of the Franco regime. Within the ETA one spoke at this time of the santuario francés (the French sanctuary ), which served militants as a retreat; Sympathizers had hiding places and safe houses in dozens of French cities.

However, in the mid-1980s France began to abandon this policy. During extensive police operations in France in 1984 and 1985, many ETA members were arrested and extradited to Spain or expelled to third countries. With the introduction of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters within the European Union since 1993 and the intensification of European anti-terrorism policy after the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the USA, the cooperation between the French and Spanish authorities in the fight against the underground organization was further expanded .

Younger development

The Civil Guard barracks in Burgos the day after the 29 July 2009 attack.

Shortly after the end of the armistice and the assassination attempt on Madrid-Barajas, the Spanish and French police achieved several important searches. On May 21, 2008 ETA's head of military operations, Francisco Javier López Peña , whose name was Thierry , was arrested along with other militants in the train station district of Bordeaux . Txeroki was arrested in France on November 17, and his alleged successor Aitzol Iriondo , fighting name Gurbita , was arrested two weeks later in Gerde . On April 18, 2009, Jurdan Martitegi , his alleged successor, was arrested.

After these arrests, in which, for the first time in the history of ETA, its leadership was caught four times in a single year, the organization was considered weaker than ever. Due to the ban on Batasuna , EHAK and ANV, there were no longer any violent formations represented in the Basque regional parliament. The option of casting an invalid vote ( voto nulo ), put forward by the Batasuna , whose successor party EHAK received 10.2% of all Basque votes in the regional elections in 2004, as a protest against the illegalization of its political spectrum, was voted by 8.84% of all Basque votes Eligible voters (101,000 votes) followed.

According to some press reports, Josu Ternera (already a member of the Batasuna ) , who was ready to negotiate, returned to the head of ETA at the beginning of 2009 . However, after the ceasefire in 2006, the Spanish government expressly ruled out any further dialogue with ETA. On July 29, 2009, the ETA carried out an attack on a police barracks in Burgos , in which 60 people were injured. Just one day later, two police officers from the Guardia Civil were killed in a bomb attack in Palmanova ( Mallorca ). On the same day, ETA carried out three more bomb attacks on restaurants and a shopping center in Palma , but no one was injured or killed. The organization assumed responsibility for these attacks in writing on August 9th.

Armistice 2011

On September 5, 2010, ETA again declared a ceasefire in a video sent to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). On January 10 of the following year, another ETA communication was circulated declaring a “permanent and general ceasefire” that “can be verified by the international community.” On October 20, 2011, ETA announced the “definitive end of their armed activities ”. In spring 2012, the three banned Basque separatist parties joined forces with other socialist formations in the region to form the Bildu electoral alliance . The new party received a particularly good result in the Basque regional elections (26% of the total vote), being recognized as the second largest political formation in the Basque Country after the EAJ-PNV . In November 2012, ETA agreed to dissolve it, but made the following demands:

  • moving all detained ETA members to prisons in the Basque Country.
  • legalizing the parties Batasuna , EHAK and ANV .
  • the right not to surrender the weapons in the organization's possession.

Peace process

After the “final armistice” in 2011, ETA members and government sources made several statements about the beginning of the peace process. However, according to the spokespersons of some ETA-affiliated political platforms, there are still obstacles, such as the ongoing legal proceedings against arrested ETA members or left-wing nationalist activists. In March 2013, ETA published a document that was immediately picked up by many of the country's newspapers. In it, the organization called on the Spanish and French governments to adhere to the agreements made together before the peace process. Giving up a common negotiating table in Norway is for ETA:

“An aggressive attitude by the French and Spanish states, which has provoked dangerous situations and created difficulties [...] both for the socialist Basque liberation forces [d. H. the ETA] as well as for every Basque and every inhabitant of France and Spain. In this sense, ETA wants to emphasize the responsibility and commitment of all its members, as they have been crucial in preventing accidents and confrontations [...] [...]. "

- Documentation: Comunicado de ETA al Paìs Vasco , March 26, 2013

With regard to the disarmament of the paramilitary organization and the continuation of the peace process, ETA emphasized in the communiqué:

“ETA also wants to make it clear that the question of disarmament has been outside the mandate of the International Review Commission since its inception ; therefore this topic was and is neither on the agenda of our organization nor on the international examination commission. […] The ETA usually deals with problems and obstacles on the negotiating front with the necessary discretion, but we are now confronted with cover-ups and tricks that have the sole aim of damaging the process. That is why ETA sees the need to make these facts public and to bring them to the immediate knowledge of the Basque citizens. Giving up the space for dialogue and negotiation [in Norway] is now a clear step backwards. We will treat it as such and it will have negative consequences as it complicates and delays the peace process. "

- Documentation: Comunicado de ETA al Paìs Vasco , March 26, 2013

In the summer of 2013, the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón opened trial 35/02, in which, for the first time since the ban on parties affiliated with ETA, politicians and activists from the Basque left have to answer before a court. In most cases, the defendants had no direct links with the ETA, but were charged with crimes such as the "Apology of Terror". For the Abertzale Left Party Euskal Herria Bildu , the 35/02 trial, also known as the "Garzón trial", meant:

“A serious obstacle […] which may stop or even destroy the Basque and Spanish Peace Process […], a process that has been signed by both Basque and Spanish institutions, political and military forces and should be respected in this regard […] could [...] "

- Documentation: Euskal Herria Bildu - Comunicado sobre el acto judicial 35/02 , 2013

Spanish newspapers and politicians replied that Bildu was threatening violence, which may also bring the party close to disintegration. Bildu mobilized all the left Basques for a march that took place on October 26, 2013 in Bilbao under the motto Por encima de los ataques! Euskal Herria adelante! (German: Forward socialist Basque country, across the attacks ) took place. The ETA did not comment on the procedure. Up to 80 figures from the Basque left scene were to be indicted and convicted in Trial 35/02. These include several leaders from Bildu (German: herrikos ), such as Arnaldo Otegi, Rufi Etxebarria, Joseba Permach, Joseba Alvarez, Floren Aoiz and Karmelo Landa as well as former members of the Batasuna .

On July 20, 2014, the ETA-related newspaper Gara reported that ETA had reported the "dissolution of its logistical and operational structures".

On March 17, 2017, Txetx Etcheverry, member of the bizi of the abertzale ecological association , announced to the French daily Le Monde that the ETA would be fully disarmed by April 8, 2017. Until then, all weapons hiding places should be named unilaterally and without preconditions. A corresponding list would be given to the Path of Peace Forum , of which Etcheverry is a member, in the next few hours for the purpose of forwarding it to the International Peace Commission for Monitoring the Armistice. The chairman of the Partido Popular in the Basque Country, Alfonso Alonso , stressed that the ETA would not continue to negotiate or speak.

On April 7, 2017, the British BBC published a letter from the ETA leadership addressed to it, in which the organization announced that it would unilaterally lay down its arms the following day without any further preconditions. However, she also warned that the process of ending the armed struggle could be disrupted by "enemies of peace". The handover of weapons began on April 8, 2017 in Bayonne , France , at which 3.5 tons of weapons were handed in.

On February 23, 2018, the Basque newspaper Gara announced a letter from the ETA leadership that the organization would vote on its dissolution. By April 2018 it had emerged that only about ten percent of the members were not in favor of the dissolution and on April 18, the dissolution was announced at the beginning of May 2018.

For the first time in the history of the ETA, an apology was made to its victims on April 20. However, victims' associations criticized the division of victims into two categories; The ETA only apologized expressly to uninvolved victims, while around 500 soldiers, police officers, politicians and lawyers were only shown "respect". The chairman of the victims' association FVT, Mari Mar Blanco, described the distinction made, who would have deserved a bomb, as "immoral".

Self-dissolution

On May 2, 2018 it was announced that ETA had announced its self-dissolution on April 16, 2018; all structures have been completely dissolved. Fernando Savater pointed out that the ETA had not condemned the years of terrorism and that they could not expect that all clocks would be set to zero, when the ETA had so far contributed next to nothing to the resolution of 358 unsolved murder cases. A comment in the NZZ mentioned the missing apology in Spain and the perception of the ETA message among victims as a mockery and pure propaganda.

Victim

ETA casualty figures from 1968 to 2010

According to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, a total of 829 people were killed in attacks by ETA between 1960 and 2008. Among them were 342 civilians and 481 belonged to state organs. In addition, members of the ETA killed several militants of their own organization who had been accused of betraying the group. This gives the estimated number of 837 deaths. According to the Gesto por la Paz organization , before the ETA's last announced ceasefire, more than 3,000 people were accompanied by private bodyguards in their daily activities in the Basque Country and Navarre . About 900 people were protected by the police. The number of bodyguards and bodyguards in this region fell from around 5000 to 2000 workers between 2009 and 2012 as a result of the peace.

Most significant attacks

List of the most important attacks by the Basque terrorist organization since 1961.

literature

Web links

Commons : ETA  - collection of images, videos and audio files
 Wikinews: ETA  - in the news

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Eta announces dissolution. Spiegel online from May 2, 2018
  2. ↑ The ETA has been killing for 50 years . Wissen.de
  3. ↑ 823 fatalities in 5 decades . In: Wienerzeitung
  4. ↑ El Mundo: Todas las víctimas de ETA . In: El Mundo
  5. ↑ Silence follows terror , NZZ, May 22, 2018
  6. ↑ ETA ready for dissolution . ntv
  7. ↑ a b Eta: Basque separatists begin weapons handover. BBC News, April 8, 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
  8. ↑ France secures ETA weapons arsenal , Luxemburger Wort , April 8, 2017.
  9. ↑ Basque terrorist organization ETA wants to disband by June orf.at, April 2, 2018, accessed April 2, 2018.
  10. ↑ a b ETA announces dissolution in Geneva , NZZ, May 3, 2018
  11. ↑ "Our role was discreet but effective" , NZZ, May 3, 2018
  12. ↑ Tor es la ideologia de ETA? In: El correo gallego
  13. ↑ Javato Gonzalez, Víctor Manuel: ETA. Orígen e ideología . In: Ab Initio , No. 3 (2011), p. 155.
  14. ^ A b Josemari Lorenzo Espinosa, on a text by Federico Krutwig: The revolutionary nationalism - historical analysis of a text by Federico Krutwig published in the magazine Branka in 1966 . Original edition Branka no. 1: El Nacionalismo Revolucionario por F. Krutwig ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / krutwig.wikispaces.com
  15. ↑ El nacimiento de ETA (1959), la primeria escision (1966-1967) y la formacion de EMK - Capitulo II, El Vasconia . ( Memento of September 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Kepa Bilbao Ariztimuño
  16. ↑ Javato Gonzalez, Víctor Manuel: ETA. Orígen e ideología . In: Ab Initio , No. 3 (2011), p. 156.
  17. ↑ Javato Gonzalez, Víctor Manuel: ETA. Orígen e ideología . In: Ab Initio , No. 3 (2011), p. 157.
  18. ↑ a b The ETA had long since outlived itself , NZZ, May 4, 2018, page 3
  19. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Wayne Anderson: The Eta: Spain's Basque Terrorists . New York 2003, pp. 41-47.
  20. ↑ El Lobo - entre la tradicion y la heroicidad . In: El País
  21. ↑ El dia en que Franco gastò sus ultimas balas . Foro por la Memoria
  22. ↑ a b c d e f BBC: Profile: ETA
  23. ^ John Sullivan: ETA and Basque Nationalism: The Flight from Euskadi, 1890-1986 . London, New York 1988, ISBN 0-415-00366-0 , pp. 47-52
  24. ^ A b Carrie Hamilton: Why do women become ETA terrorists . In: The Daily Telegraph , October 21, 2009.
  25. ↑ Mónica Ceberio Belaza: La dirigente de ETA detenida controlaba armas y explosivos . In: El País October 28, 2012.
  26. ↑ Acosada por la Policía, la banda Eta llama a filas a los jóvenes de Segi . In: El Imparcial
  27. ↑ Detenidos en Roma tres miembros de SEGI cuando pretendían protestar ante Zapatero . RTVE
  28. ↑ Annual report on the human rights situation in Spain 2004 . ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Amnesty International
  29. ↑ Torture Report . (PDF; 1.6 MB) UNHCHR
  30. ↑ Globalsecurity: Basque Fatherland and Liberty Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) . , 18-12-2012
  31. ↑ New weapons for ETA recruits arrested in Valencia last week . Thinkspain.com
  32. ↑ terra lliure cometiò dos o tres atentados en nombre de ETA como pago por el entrenamiento de sus terroristas . Libertad Digital
  33. ^ Simone Traverso: Le Brigate Rosse a Chiavari per acquistare armi dall'ETA . In: Il Secolo XIX , June 15, 2009.
  34. ↑ Steven Morris: IRA's links with FARC and ETA revealed . In: The Guardian , August 25, 2001.
  35. ↑ Michael Lavery: ETA modified to IRA about faulty missile . In: Belfast Telegraph , 23 January 2010.
  36. ^ Isambard Wilkinson: British Unit in Spain to track ETA and IRA . In: The Daily Telegraph , August 1, 2002.
  37. ↑ ETA ha recibido entrenamiento de la OLP . In: El País
  38. ↑ Dorothea Wuhrer: Basque Country: With ax and snake
  39. ↑ A plea in favor of dialogue by ETA . Public database over the basque Peace Process
  40. ↑ El primer etarra juzgado tras el comunicado de ETA no reconoce al tribunal . Telemadrid.es
  41. ↑ Etarras gritando 'Gora ETA' en la asemblea nacional . youtube
  42. ↑ a b Completo dossier sobre la banda terrorista ETA . ( Memento of October 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: El País
  43. ^ European Press Review . BBC
  44. ^ Los secuestros de ETA .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) In: El País@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.elpais.com
  45. ↑ ETA tries to justify 'tax' on Lizarazu . In: The Independent
  46. ↑ ETA recauda anualmente 900,000 €, según la Policía francesa . In: El Confidencial
  47. ↑ Bank accounts linked to ETA are frozen in Liechtenstein . In: The Independent
  48. ↑ Garzón ordena el cierre de las sedes y locales de Batasuna para los próximos tres años . In: El País
  49. ↑ Herri Batasuna et Batasuna c. Espagne . ECHR press release, June 30, 2009
  50. ^ S. Khatami: Peacemaking in the Basque Country , pp. 256-259.
  51. ↑ a b Datos de la actividad sindacal de LAB Sindikatua LAB, official LAB website, 2011 (on Euskera)
  52. ^ A b c Sonia Aparicio, Carolina Rodríguez: El entorno de ETA: LAB . In: El Mundo
  53. ^ S. Khatami: Peacemaking in the Basque Country . Pp. 16-19.
  54. ^ A b c Sonia Aparicio, Carolina Rodríguez: Las Caras de Batasuna - Organizations en el entorno de ETA / Jarrai . In: El Mundo
  55. ^ Audiencia Nacional considera terroristas a Jarrai-Haika-Segi . ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Noticias de Navarra , January 20, 2007
  56. ^ A b c Juan Garcia: Spanish state steps up repression of radical basque youth . International Viewpoint - Online socialist magazine, April 3, 2001
  57. ^ A b Sonia Aparicio, Carolina Rodríguez: Las Caras de Batasuna - Organizations en el entorno de ETA / Haika . In: El Mundo
  58. ^ A b New Basque youth movement - Reinforce the ties between irish republican and basque nationalist youth organizations . In: To Phoblacht , November 16, 2000; Interview with Ugaitz Elizaran and Arturo Villanueva (members of Haika ).
  59. ↑ a b Constanze Stelzenmüller: Bloody Paradox in the Basque Country . In: Die Zeit , September 28, 2000.
  60. ^ Thousand commemorate basque soldiers . Irish-Basque Solidarity Committee
  61. ↑ a b Constanze Stelzenmüller: He was one of us . In: Die Zeit , No. 36/2000.
  62. ↑ a b Euskobarómetro - May 2009 - general survey. Archived from the original on February 3, 2012 . ;Euskobarometro project
  63. ^ List of sociological studies - 2006 . Department of Sociological Studies - Basque Autonomous Government (Gabinete de Prospección Sociológica - Gobierno Vasco)
  64. ↑ Más del 85% apuesta por el derecho a decidir y por el diálogo sobre el marco ( Memento of April 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) - More than 85% for the referendum decision-making right and political dialogue . In: Gara (Basque left-wing nationalist magazine), December 11, 2006
  65. ↑ a b c d e f La historia de ETA . In: El Mundo
  66. ↑ a b c d e f g h La historia de ETA - Los años '70 . In: El Mundo
  67. ↑ La historia de ETA - Extorsion . In: El Mundo
  68. ^ Profiles: Batasuna . BBC
  69. ↑ a b c d e f g La historia de ETA - Los años '80 . In: El Mundo
  70. ↑ a b c Spain’s state-sponsored death squads . BBC
  71. ^ La guerra sucia contra ETA germinó tras el asesinato de Carrero Blanco . In: El País , August 13, 1998.
  72. ↑ a b The ETA asks its victims for forgiveness , NZZ, April 21, 2018, page 6
  73. ↑ Angelika Huber-Schiffer, Werner Schiffer: The Basque ETA - Turning away from terrorism? (PDF; 1.9 MB) In: Deutschland & Europa 53 (2007), pp. 28–35.
  74. ↑ ETA exigió un “acuerdo político” a Zapatero para “reactivar” la tregua tras la bomba de la T-4 . In: El País , June 24, 2007.
  75. ↑ Luis R. Aizpeolea: De Ermua al diálogo con ETA . In: El País , July 14, 2007.
  76. ↑ Zapatero: "He ordenado suspender todas las iniciativas para desarrollar el diálogo con ETA" . In: El País , December 30, 2006.
  77. ↑ Leo Wieland: Eta declares the ceasefire over . FAZ.net , June 5, 2007
  78. ^ ETA reivindica el asesinato del ex concejal Isaías Carrasco . In: El País , April 1, 2008.
  79. ↑ Mónica Ceberio Belaza, EFE, Manuel Altozano: detenido un etarra en Francia por el asesinato de Uria Inaxio . In: El País , June 26, 2012.
  80. ↑ La clausura del 'santuario' France . In: El País
  81. ↑ El Gobierno de París mantendrá sus refuerzos policiales en la frontera con España . In: El País
  82. ↑ Aitor Guenaga, JA Rodríguez, Agencies: detenido el 'numero uno' de ETA . In: El País , May 21, 2008.
  83. ↑ Aitor Guenaga Bidaurrazaga: Cae el jefe de ETA sucesor de Txeroki . In: El País , December 9, 2008.
  84. ↑ Aitor Guenaga: Cae en Francia el jefe militar de ETA . In: El País , April 19, 2009.
  85. ↑ Voto nulo: opcìon de la izquierda abertzale . ( Memento of April 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) El correo digital.
  86. ↑ Luis R. Aizpeolea: Josu Ternera vuelve a la dirección de ETA . In: El País , April 19, 2009.
  87. ↑ Á. Escrivá, F. Lázaro, H. Sáenz: ETA mata a 2 guardias civiles . In: El mundo , July 30, 2009.
  88. ↑ ETA takes responsibility for the attack . ( Memento from August 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) N24
  89. ↑ Spain's ETA 'declares ceasefire' . BBC, September 5, 2010.
  90. ↑ ETA 'ceasefire' video: Excerpts . , BBC 5th September 2010.
  91. ↑ ETA puts down its arms .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) In: Der Standard , September 5, 2010.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / derstandard.at
  92. ↑ ETA communication of January 10, 2011 ( Memento of April 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 46 kB) In: El Paìs , January 10, 2011.
  93. ↑ Declaration of the ETA of October 20, 2011. In: El País , October 20, 2011.
  94. ↑ How the ETA wants to dissolve . Welt online , November 20, 2011.
  95. ↑ a b ETA's statement to the Basque Country . Basque Peace Process
  96. ↑ a b c Of tall tales and mega-trials . Basque Peace Process
  97. ↑ a b c d Imputados 'abertzales' ven trabas del Estado español al proceso de paz . In: El Paìs
  98. ↑ "ETA anuncia su desarme unilaterally e incondicional para el 8 de abril." In: El País, retrieved from 17 March 2017 on 17 March.
  99. ↑ "Le désarmement de l'organization ETA, un casse-tête pour l'Etat." Accessed Le Monde of 17 March 2017 on 17 March: In.
  100. ^ Reiner Wandler: Separatist group Eta before final disarmament. Der Standard, March 17, 2017, accessed on the same day.
  101. ^ Eta: Basque separatists plan to unilaterally disarm on Saturday. BBC News, April 7, 2017, accessed April 8, 2017 .
  102. ↑ ETA votes on dissolution from Deutschlandfunk, February 23, 2018
  103. ↑ Terrorist organization ETA is finally disintegrating: “The explanation will be very clear” , Watson, April 19, 2018
  104. ↑ The Basque Country now needs steps towards reconciliation , NZZ, May 3, 2018
  105. ↑ a b Lista de Victimas de ETA (name and occupation of the victim as well as the date and place of the murder). In: El Periodico ; Source: Fundacion Victimas del Terrorismo As of December 9, 2013
  106. ↑ a b c Últimas víctimas mortales de ETA: Cuadros estadísticos ( Memento of December 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (sorted annually). Spanish Ministry of the Interior, source: Subdirección General de Atención al Ciudadano y de Asistencia a las Víctimas del Terrorismo - Ministerio del Interior ; As of December 9, 2013
  107. ↑ Daños colaterales de la paz . In: El Paìs , September 30, 2012.
  108. ↑ Atentados de ETA . In: El Mundo , November 15, 2012.
  109. ↑ Los atentados mas sangrientes de ETA . In: El Mundo