Terrorism in Europe 
Terrorism in Europe
2 MINSK STATE LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITYREPORT“Terrorism in Europe”MINSK 2008 Plan:Introduction. General overview1. Terrorism in Spain. ETA1.1 Context1.2 Goals1.3 Structure1.4 Tactics1.5 Political Issues1.6 History1.7 Terrorism in Northern Ireland1.8 Terrorism in Greece. November 171.9 Counter-terrorismConclusionBibliography Terrorism in Europe. General overviewSince the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent alerts, violence, and threats worldwide, the war on terror has been at the forefront of international affairs. In 2001, Europe expressed its solidarity with the United States in the initiation of an international effort to curb the threat of terrorism throughout the world.While in this work I have primary tried to focus on the more well-known and active groups, namely the IRA, the ETA, and 17 November, with a discussion of Islamic groups within Europe, these are by no means the only terrorist organizations currently operation within Europe. In reality, no region of Europe has been able to escape the direct effects of terrorism over the past 50 years. For instance, though the ETA is the most famous of the Spanish terrorist organization, the First of October Antifascist Resistance Group (GRAPO) is a left-wing, anarchist, terrorist organization that has been operating in Spain for the past three decades. It came into the international spotlight in 1975, when four Spanish policemen were killed in retaliation for the execution of five GRAPO members. GRAPO was last active in November 2000, when they exploded a series of bombs in Vigo, Seville and Valencia.In Italy, the Brigate Rosse, or Red Brigade, has been active sine the 1960s. This extreme left, Marxist-Leninist group aims at separating Italy from the Western alliance, by targeting government symbols all over Italy. The peak of activity for this group occurred in the 1970's and 1980's, in a series of bombings and attacks that terrorized the country, though the group has been in decline over the past decade. On 12 December 1969, an Italian bank was blown up, killing 16 people; 106 more casualties followed the next year when an Italian train was derailed by the anarchist group. However, the most notorious incident took place in 1978, when former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was kidnapped, after which point he was brutally murdered. In December of 1983 that year, the Red Brigade took US Army Brigadier General James Dozier, but this time, a successful rescue operation prevented a repeat of the Moro incident. Other groups were active in Italy at the same time. In 1973, Italian neo-fascists detonated two bombs that killed 20 people, injuring many more. Then, on 1 August 1980, 385 casualties resulted from an explosion in Bologna, linked to right-wing terrorists in the nation. Later on, Pope John Paul II suffered an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Rome in 1981, an action executed by the Grey Wolves, a Turkish terrorist group that was subsequently linked to Middle East terrorist organizations and Soviet intelligence. In October 1983, Italian right-wingers claimed 130 casualties by exploding another train bomb. And, in 1988, five members of the US Navy were killed by a Japanese Red Army attack in Naples.France too has been exposed to a variety of threats. The Organisation Armee Secrete, or Secret Army Organisation (OAS), comprised of French nationals, army personnel, and foreign legion members was a group dedicated to keeping Algeria as a French colony. On 9 September 1961, the group attempted to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle in France. The attack launched by that group in January 1962 at the foreign ministry was more successful, claiming 14 casualties; many more joined that number in 12 further attacks between 1962 and 1965. Another organization, Action Directe, a Marxist-Leninist group affiliated with the International Revolutionary Movement Group (GARI), founded in the 1970's and devoted to the destruction of the existing government, attacked a Parisian restaurant in 1982, killing six civilians in the process. In January 1985, the head of French international arms sales was killed in Paris by the Red Army Faction of the same group, a splinter force with links to the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Then, in 1986, Action Directe struck again in its most famous action, killing the president of Renault in Paris.In 1983, 63 casualties were claimed after an Armenian terrorist group planted a bomb at the Orly airport. 1986 initiated a 10-month long series of attacks all over France that were linked to the Armenian terrorists, in conjunction with Lebanese groups. Most recently, in 2000, a bomb planted in a French McDonald's by the Breton Revolutionary Army (ARB), a pro-independence group in Brittany, killed one woman.Germany has also had to face a wide-ranging terrorist threat, starting with the 1970 formation of the notorious Baader-Meinhof Gang. That year the German leftist Ulrike Meinhof organized Andreas Baader's escape from a Berlin prison; the two then formed the terrorist gang that would launch a series of attacks throughout Germany in the next 30 years. Within a year, they would be knows as the Red Army Faction (RAF), a strategic renaming aimed at creating a sense of a much larger organization, as opposed to a small German splinter group. In May and June 1972, two separate attacks were carried out on US Army headquarters in Frankfurt and Heidelberg, claiming 17 casualties. Then, on 5 September 1975, the Baader-Meinhof Gang kidnapped Hans Martin Schleyer, a German businessman, subsequently killing him. An almost-successful assassination attempt on NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Haig was carried out in 1979. Though the organization has now ceased to exist, the precedent for terrorism in Germany has been set. 1. Terrorism in Spain. ETAEuskadi Ta Askatasuna, or ETA, is a Basque paramilitary group that seeks to create an independent socialist state for the Basque people, separate from Spain and France, the countries in which Basque-populated areas currently lie. ETA is considered by Spain, France, the European Union and the United States to be a terrorist organization . The name Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is in the Basque language, and translates as "Basque Country and Liberty". ETA's motto is Bietan jarrai ("Keep up on both"). This refers to the two figures in the ETA symbol, the snake (symbolising secrecy and astuteness) wrapped around an axe (representing strength).The organization was founded in 1959 and evolved rapidly from a group advocating traditional cultural ways to an armed resistance movement.1.1 ContextETA forms part of what is known as the Basque National Liberation Movement (Movimiento de Liberaciуn Nacional Vasco, MLNV in Spanish). This comprises several distinct organizations promoting a type of left Basque nationalism often referred to by the Basque-language term ezker abertzale or by the mixed Spanish and Basque izquierda abertzale. These include ETA, Batasuna, Euskal Herritarrok, Herri Batasuna, and the associated youth group Haika (formed by Jarrai and Gazteriak, and Segi), the union LAB, Gestoras pro Amnistнa and others.ETA is believed to be financed principally by a so-called "revolutionary tax", paid by many businesses in the Basque Country and in the rest of Spain and enforced by the threat of assassination. They also kidnap people for ransom and have occasionally burgled or robbed storehouses of explosives. They have often maintained large caches of explosives, often in France rather than within the borders of Spain.As of the end of 2004, ETA had killed 817 people, of which 339 were civilians, including children.During the Franco era, ETA had considerable public support (even beyond the Basque populace), but Spain's transition to democracy and ETA's progressive radicalization have resulted in a steady loss of support, which became especially apparent at the time of their 1997 kidnapping and assassination of Miguel Бngel Blanco. Their loss of sympathizers has been reflected in an erosion of support for the political parties identified with the MLNV.In recent years, ETA supporters have become a minority in the Basque region. A Euskobarуmetro poll (conducted by the Universidad del Paнs Vasco) in the Basque Country in May 2004, found that a significant number of Basques supported some or all of ETA's goals (33% favored Basque independence, 31% federalism, 32% autonomy, 2% centralism. However, few supported their violent methods (87% agreed that "today in Euskadi it is possible to defend all political aspirations and objectives without the necessity of resorting to violence")The poll did not cover Navarre or the Basque areas of France, where Basque nationalism is weaker.1.2 GoalsETA's focus has been on two demands:That an independent socialist government be created in Basque-inhabited areas of Spain and France (Euskal Herria). (In Spain, these are known collectively as the Basque Country and include both the Comunidad Autуnoma Vasca ("Autonomous Basque Community") -- consisting of the provinces of Vizcaya (Bizkaia), Guipъzcoa (Gipuzkoa), Бlava (Araba) -- and province of Navarre (Nafarroa), which, alone, constitutes the Comunidad Foral de Navarra (Navarese Community under fueros). The Basque-inhabited areas in France are known collectively as the French Basque Country and include Lower Navarre, Labourd (Lapurdi) and Soule (Zuberoa), all located in southwestern France in the dйpartement of Pyrйnйes-Atlantiques)That imprisoned ETA members currently awaiting trial or serving prison sentences in Spain be released.During the 1980s, the goals of the organisation started to shift. Four decades after the creation of ETA, the idea of creating a Socialist state in the Basque Country had begun to seem utopian and impractical, and ETA moved to a more pragmatic stance. This was reflected in the 1995 manifesto "Democratic Alternative", which offered the cessation of all armed ETA activity if the Spanish-government would recognize the Basque people as having sovereignty over Basque territory and the right to self-determination. Self-determination would be achieved through a referendum on whether to remain a part of Spain.The organization has adopted other tactical causes such as fighting against:-Alleged drug traffickers as corruptors of Basque youth and police collaborators-The nuclear power plant project at Lemoiz-The Leizaran highway1.3 StructureETA is organized into distinct talde ("groups"), whose objective is to conduct terrorist operations in a specific geographic zone; collectively, they are coordinated by the cъpula militar ("military cupola"). In addition, they maintain safe houses and zulo (caches of arms or explosives; the Basque word zulo literally means "hole."Among its members, ETA distinguishes between legalak, those members who do not have police files, liberados, exiled to France, and quemados, freed after having been imprisoned.The internal organ of ETA is Zutik ("Standing"). 1.4 TacticsETA's tactics of intimidation include:-Assassination and murder, especially by car bombs or a gunshot to the nape of the neck.-Anonymous threats, often delivered in the Basque Country by placards or graffiti, and which have forced many people into hiding; an example was the harassment of Juan Marнa Atutxa, one-time head of the department of justice for the Basque Country.-The so-called "revolutionary tax."-Kidnapping (often as a punishment for failing to pay the "revolutionary tax").ETA operates mainly in Spain, particularly in the Basque Country, Navarre, and (to a lesser degree) Madrid, Barcelona, and the tourist areas of the Mediterranean coast of Spain. ETA has generally focused on so-called "military targets" (in which definition it has included police and politicians), but in recent years it has also sometimes targeted civilians.ETA victims have included, among others:-Luis Carrero Blanco, president of the government under Franco (1973)-Members of the army and the security forces of the Spanish state, including Guardia Civil, Policнa Nacional, and police of the autonomous regions, such as the Ertzaintza (Basque police) or mossos d'esquadra (the police force of Catalonia).-Parlamentarians, members of city councils, sympathizers and partisans of other parties, including the socialist PSOE (such as Fernando Buesa, killed February 22, 2000 in Vitoria and Ernest Lluch shot through the neck November 21, 2000 in Barcelona), the conservative Partido Popular (such as Miguel Бngel Blanco and Gregorio Ordусez) or even conservative Basque nationalists such as (Navarrese fuerista Tomбs Caballero, assassinated in 1998).-Judges and lawyers-Businessmen, such as Javier Ybarra.-Functionaries of the prison and judicial systems.-Philosophers and intellectuals.-University professors, such as Francisco Tomбs y Valiente, killed in 1996.-Journalists, such as Josй Luis Lуpez de la Calle, killed in May 2000.-Members of certain religious and social groups.-Foreign tourists in Spain.Before bombings, ETA members often make a telephone call so that people can be evacuated, although these calls have sometimes given incorrect information, leading to increased casualties.A police file, dating from 1996, indicated that ETA needs about 15 million pesetas (about 90,000 Euros) daily in order to finance its operations. Although ETA used robbery as a means of financing in its early days, it has since been accused both of arms trafficking and of benefiting economically from its political counterpart Batasuna. The two most important methods that the organization has used to obtain finances are kidnapping and extortion, euphemistically known as "revolutionary taxes." Other similar organizations such as FARC have also used this tactic. In 2002 the judge Baltasar Garzуn seized the herriko tabernas (people's taverns) which were reportedly collecting these "revolutionary taxes".ETA is known to have had contacts with the Irish Republican Army; the two groups have both, at times, characterized their struggles as parallel. It has also had links with other militant left-wing movements in Europe and in other places throughout the world. Because of its allegiance to Marxist ideas, ETA has in the past been sponsored by communist regimes such as Cuba, as well as by Libya and Lebanon. Some of its members have found political asylum in Mexico and Venezuela. 1.5 Political issuesETA's political wing is Batasuna, formerly known as Euskal Herritarrok and "Herri Batasuna", which generally receives about 10% of the vote in the Basque areas of Spain.Batasuna's political status has been a very controversial issue. The Spanish Cortes (parliament) began the process of declaring the party illegal in August 2002, a move which was strongly disputed by many who felt that it was too draconian. Judge Baltasar Garzуn suspended the activities of Batasuna in a parallel trial, investigating the relationship between Batasuna and ETA, and its headquarters were shut down by police. The Supreme Court of Spain finally declared Batasuna illegal on March 18, 2003. The court considered proven that Batasuna had several links with ETA and that it was, in fact, part of ETA. Batasuna was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States in May 2003 and by all EU countries in June 2003.In Spain, all Members of Parliament not belonging to Batasuna or any of the independentist political parties are required to carry a permanent escort lest they should be attacked by ETA. This also extends to all Basque city councilors of non-Basque-Nationalist parties and several of the Basque Nationalist officials.1.6 HistoryDuring Franco's dictatorshipETA was founded by young nationalists, initially affiliated with the PNV. Started in 1953 as a student discussion group at the University of Deusto in Bilbao, an offshoot of the PNV's youth group EGI, it was originally called EKIN, from the Basque-language verb meaning "to act"; the name had the meaning "get busy".On July 31, 1959 it reconstituted itself as ETA. Their split from the PNV was apparently because they considered the PNV too moderate in its opposition to Franco's dictatorship. They disagreed with the PNV's rejection of violent tactics and advocated a Basque resistance movement utilizing direct action. This was an era of wars of national liberation such as the anti-colonial war in Algeria.
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