The Quiet End of Basque Terror

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/14/opinion/the-quiet-end-of-basque-terror.html

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In recent days the world has witnessed terrorist attacks on innocent citizens in Sweden and Egypt. It was thus notable, and welcome, that last weekend a militant Basque group quietly ended a decades-long reign of terror. On Saturday, in Bayonne, France, the group ETA, whose assassinations and bombings killed more than 800 people between 1968 and 2010, surrendered its stockpiles of weapons.

The Basque region lies astride the French-Spanish border on the Atlantic coast. ETA — which stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or Basque Country and Freedom — emerged in the wake of a brutal crackdown by the Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco against Basque language and culture in the 1950s. But decades of violent struggle failed to earn the Basques an independent homeland. With more than 300 members in prison, its leadership decimated by arrests and many Basques more focused on bread-and-butter economic issues than independence, ETA wisely decided to disarm.

Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve of France praised the move, saying it marked “a decisive step toward the end of Basque terror.” Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain, who insists that ETA dissolve itself and apologize to the victims of its terror, said: “The government will not change its position: terrorists cannot expect favorable treatment … much less impunity for their crimes.”

Mr. Rajoy’s argument that members of the group who committed crimes be punished is perfectly legitimate. But his hard line also reflects fear that ETA’s transition into conventional politics will follow the path of Catalonia, where 81 percent of voters supported independence in a 2014 election, though it was nonbinding. Madrid maintains that the Spanish Constitution prohibits secession by any region. In 2003, the Spanish government outlawed Herri Batasuna, a separatist political party closely linked to ETA. In 2011, the Basque leader Arnaldo Otegi was arrested, accused of attempting to restart the party, and sentenced to 10 years in prison, a sentence strongly criticized by human rights activists and international lawyers.

Mr. Otegi was released in February, after Spain’s Supreme Court reduced his sentence. As long as Mr. Otegi’s activities remain peaceful, Mr. Rajoy’s government must allow him to exercise his political rights. Choking off legitimate political avenues for the expression of Basque concerns will only risk driving radical outliers to take up arms again, threatening the region’s best chance in decades for a durable peace.