Basque conflict

Basque conflict
Part of the European separatist movements in the Basque Country
Clockwise, starting at top left: ETA members at the 2006 Gudari Eguna in Oiartzun, Gipuzkoa; the Madrid Airport bombing; a demonstration against ETA in Madrid; pro-ETA graffiti in Pasaia.
Date31 July 1959 – 20 October 2011 (1959-07-31 – 2011-10-20) (52 years, 2 months, 2 weeks and 6 days)[3]
Location
Greater Basque Country (Spain, France)
Result

Spanish and French government victory

  • 2011: ETA declares definitive cessation of its armed activity
  • 2017: ETA completely disarms
  • 2018: ETA completely dissolves
Belligerents

Spain

 France

Anti-communist paramilitaries:

Basque National Liberation Movement:

Supported by:
Casualties and losses
  • 387 Spanish law enforcement agents killed
  • 98 off-duty Spanish soldiers killed
  • 1 French policeman killed[4]
  • 343 civilians killed by ETA (including 23 minors)[4]
  • 2,400 wounded and 1,294 permanently incapacitated[5]
 Total number of casualties is unknown
  • 140 militants killed by law enforcement agencies
  • 101 killed in a number of criminal cases involving various parties
  • 44 killed due to their own explosives [5]
  • 4,250 wounded[5]
  • c. 30,000 arrested[5]
Total number of casualties is disputed (see Casualties)

The Basque conflict, also known as the Spain–ETA conflict, was an armed and political conflict from 1959 to 2011 between Spain and the Basque National Liberation Movement, a group of social and political Basque organizations which sought independence from Spain and France. The movement was built around the separatist organization ETA,[6][7] which had launched a campaign of attacks against Spanish administrations since 1959. ETA had been proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Spanish, British,[8] French[9] and American[10] authorities at different moments. The conflict took place mostly on Spanish soil, although to a smaller degree it was also present in France, which was primarily used as a safe haven by ETA members. It was the longest running violent conflict in modern Western Europe.[11] It has been sometimes referred to as "Europe's longest war".[12]

The terminology is controversial.[13] "Basque conflict" is preferred by Basque nationalist groups, including those opposed to ETA violence.[14] Others, including a number of Basque academics and historians commissioned to draft a report on the subject by the Basque government,[15][14] reject the term, seeing it as legitimate state agencies fighting a terrorist group which had been responsible for the vast majority of deaths.[16][17]

The conflict had both political and military dimensions. Its participants included politicians and political activists on both sides, the abertzale left (Basque nationalist left) and the Spanish government, and the security forces of Spain and France fighting against ETA and other small organizations, usually involved in the kale borroka (Basque youth guerrilla violence). Far-right paramilitary groups fighting against ETA were also active in the 1970s and 1980s.

Although the debate on Basque independence started in the 19th century, the armed conflict did not start until ETA was created in 1959. From 1959 until the conflict ended in 2011, more than 1,000 people were killed, including police, security officers, members of the armed forces, Spanish politicians, journalists, civilians and some ETA members. Thousands of people were injured, dozens kidnapped, with a disputed number of people going into exile, either to flee from the violence or to avoid apprehension by the authorities.[5][18]

On 20 October 2011, ETA announced a "definitive cessation of its armed activity".[19][20] Spanish premier José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero described the move as "a victory for democracy, law and reason".[20]

  1. ^ "Documentos de la CIA relatan que Felipe González acordó crear los GAL". EiTB (in Spanish). 14 June 2020. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Villarejo defiende la 'guerra sucia' contra ETA: "Me hubiera gustado participar"". www.publico.es. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Basque separatists ETA 'end armed struggle'". english.aljazeera.net.
  4. ^ a b Varona, Gema (27 June 2014). "ETA terrorism victims' experience with restorative encounters in Spain. (Table 16.1 (b) ETA fatalities by status gender and location of victimization)". In Inge Vanfraechem; Pemberton, Anthony; Ndahinda, Felix Mukwiza (eds.). Justice for Victims: Perspectives on Rights, Transition and Reconciliation. London and New York: Routledge. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-415-63433-5.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Datos significativos del conflicto vasco, 1968–2003". Eusko News (in Spanish). 2003. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  6. ^ "European Union list of terrorist organizations" (PDF). Official Journal of the European Union. 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  7. ^ "Foreign Terrorist Organizations". Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. 15 October 2010. Archived from the original on 28 October 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2010.[dead link‍]
  8. ^ "Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations". GOV.UK.
  9. ^ "Leader of Eta Basque rebels arrested in France". BBC News. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  10. ^ Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Retrieved on 16 April 2013.
  11. ^ "The Basque Conflict: New ideas and Prospects for Peace" (PDF). Gorka Espiau Idoiaga. April 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  12. ^ "Eyewitness: ETA's shadowy leaders". news.bbc.co.uk. 2 December 1999. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  13. ^ "El 'Basque conflict', para Wikipedia". El Mundo. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  14. ^ a b "More Basque Violence". The New York Times. 3 August 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  15. ^ Aizpeolea, Luis R. (11 March 2015). "No hubo conflicto vasco, sino totalitarismo de ETA". El País.
  16. ^ Ceberia Belaza, Mónica (20 October 2011). "Las 700 "consecuencias del conflicto"" [The 700 "consequences of the conflict"]. El País (in Spanish). Spain. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  17. ^ Aizpeolea, Luis (11 March 2015). "No hubo conflicto vasco, sino totalitarismo de ETA" [There wasn't a Basque Conflict, only ETA totalitarianism]. El País (in Spanish). Spain. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  18. ^ "El Foro de Ermua culpa a Ibarretxe del exilio forzoso de 119.000 vascos". El Mundo. 26 February 2005. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  19. ^ "Armed group ETA announces 'definitive cessation of its armed activity'". EITB.com. 20 October 2011. Archived from the original on 22 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  20. ^ a b "Basque group Eta says armed campaign is over". BBC News. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.