ETA, an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, was an armed Basque nationalist and separatist terrorist organization in the Basque Country. The group was founded in 1959 and later evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group engaged in a violent campaign of bombing, assassinations, and kidnappings in the Southern Basque Country and throughout Spanish territory. Its goal was gaining independence for the Basque Country. ETA was the main group within the Basque National Liberation Movement and was the most important Basque participant in the Basque conflict.
Batasuna was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money.
Arnaldo Otegi Mondragón is a Basque politician who is currently General Secretary of Basque nationalist party EH Bildu. He was member of the Basque Parliament for both Herri Batasuna and Euskal Herritarrok. He was one of the key negotiators during the unsuccessful peace talks in Loiola and Geneva, in 2006.
Jaime Mayor Oreja is a former Spanish conservative politician of the People's Party. He served as member of the Basque Parliament, of the Spanish Parliament, and of the European Parliament, as well as being Spanish Minister of the Interior between 1996 and 2000. He is known for his outspoken anti-ETA rhetoric and social ultracatholicism
The 2005 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 17 April 2005, to elect the 8th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.
Askatasuna is a Basque political party registered on 31 August 1998, outlawed in 2009 by the Audiencia Nacional under the 2002 Political Parties Law.
ETA's 2006 "permanent ceasefire" was the period spanning between 24 March and 30 December 2006 during which, following an ETA communiqué, the Spanish government, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero on one side, and the militant group on the other, engaged in talks as a means to agree on a formula to voluntarily disband the latter. It was terminated as a result of the 2006 Madrid Barajas International Airport bombing.
Aralar was a Basque socialist and separatist political party in Spain. It was opposed to the violent struggle of ETA.
The 2009 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 1 March 2009, to elect the 9th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with a regional election in Galicia. It would be the first time that the elections for two of the Spanish "historical regions"—namely, those comprising Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country itself—were held simultaneously. This would evolve into an unwritten convention in subsequent years, with Basque and Galician elections being held concurrently in 2012, 2016 and 2020.
The 2001 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 13 May 2001, to elect the 7th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.
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, which had launched a campaign of attacks against Spanish administrations since 1959. ETA had been proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Spanish, British, French and American 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. It has been sometimes referred to as "Europe's longest war".
Sortu is a Basque socialist political party. Founded in February 2011, it is the first political party belonging to the Basque nationalist "abertzale left" that openly rejects any kind of political violence. Before Sortu, sections of the Basque nationalist left who rejected ETA's violence left the movement and founded another party, Aralar, to represent that element of the abertzale left.
Abertzaleen Batasuna is a Basque political party in France.
The 2012 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 21 October 2012, to elect the 10th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with a regional election in Galicia. Lehendakari Patxi López announced the parliament's dissolution half a year ahead of schedule as a result of the People's Party (PP) withdrawing their support from his government, prompting Galician president Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who had been scheduling a snap election in Galicia to be held at some point throughout late 2012, to make his decision to have a simultaneous vote.
EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu is a left-wing, Basque nationalist, pro-independence political coalition active in the Spanish autonomous communities of Basque Country, Navarre and Burgos Province.
Abertzale left is a term used to refer to the parties or organizations of the Basque nationalist/separatist left, stretching from democratic socialism to communism.
Joxe Pernando Barrena Arza is a Basque politician, former member of the Parliament of Navarre and a member of the European Parliament for Spain.
Iñaki Ruiz de Pinedo Undiano is a Basque sociologist, politician and a member of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. He was previously a member of the Basque Parliament.
Maria Angeles Beitialarrangoitia Lizarralde is a Basque journalist and politician. She was previously a member of the Congress of Deputies of Spain and Basque Parliament, and mayor of Hernani.
Hasier Arraiz Barbadillo is a Spanish politician from the Basque Country. He was the first president of Sortu, and a member of the Basque Parliament.
