Who Planted the Madrid Airport bomb?

[TonyGosling]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA

Alleged secret meeting with ETA in Turkish capital
Friday, January 5, 2007
ANKARA/ISTANBUL - TDN with wire dispatches

The head of armed Basque separatist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, Basque for 'Basque Homeland and Freedom') met with Spanish government envoys in Ankara last month, regional news agency Vasco Press reported on Wednesday.

The Spanish government has not confirmed the meeting, according to Agence France-Presse.

After the alleged meeting the Spanish government side 'left with the impression the truce would not break in the short term,' reported Vasco Press.

The report said the four members of the delegation that met with ETA on behalf of the government were Jesus Eguiguren of the Basque Socialist Party, which is allied to the Spanish national government; a 'Basque Socialist militant without public office'; and two 'veteran Socialists.'

It added that Eguiguren flew to Turkey from Germany for the meeting.



Embassy not informed:

The story was fresh news for Spanish Embassy officials in Ankara. Speaking with the Turkish Daily News yesterday on condition of anonymity, embassy officials were unable to either confirm or deny the report. The same officials noted that they had asked the Spanish Foreign Ministry for information regarding the reported meeting; however, the ministry was also not able to confirm or deny the same report.

Turkish Foreign Ministry officials contacted by the TDN also said they had no information of such a meeting.

In June, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) invited representatives of the political wing of ETA as well as the leading republican movement in Northern Ireland to its party congress.

The DTP, founded in 2005, invited representatives from Sinn Féin, a political party considered to be the political arm of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and Herri Batasuna (Unity of the People), a separatist Basque party known as the political wing of ETA, to its first-ever party congress. A member of the Basque regional Parliament, Gork Ele Jabarieta, and Herri Batasuna's European Representative Conny Frederikson were among the attendees.



Praise from DTP for Zapatero:

Tuncer Bakırhan of the DTP, who is also responsible for the party's external affairs, speaking with the TDN, said he had no information regarding the reported meeting in Ankara. Yet he also said that if it took place, such a meeting being hosted in Ankara should be regarded as 'important and meaningful.'

The DTP had earlier asserted that the Kurdish problem has similarities with issues in both Northern Ireland and in the Basque region and called for a similar peace process in Turkey.

Noting that Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won parliamentary approval in June to seek dialogue with ETA in the wake of the cease-fire, Bakırhan praised the Spanish government's 'determination and courage for resolving the longstanding Basque conflict through dialogue.'

'I hope that Ankara also eventually chooses to sort out its own Kurdish problem through dialogue. Considering the issue solely as a security matter and resorting to other well-known means would just spell a loss of time as well as a huge cost for the country,' he added.

He also expressed regret over the fact that a person was killed and another presumed dead over the weekend in a bombing at the Madrid airport claimed by the group -- the first ETA-related fatality since May 2003. 'We have been saddened by the bombing, which came at a time when efforts were under way for building an atmosphere of trust,' he added.

In December, a DTP delegation headed by Bakırhan had talks in Spain. The delegation met both with members of the regional parliaments of the Basque region, Catalonia and Galicia, and the national Congress and the Senate. Bakırhan noted that the delegation did not engage in talks with ETA during the visit and added that the delegation was impressed with what they saw in a country vis-à-vis its ethnic diversity and the reflection of this diversity in political life.



Uca criticizes Ankara:

Meanwhile, Feleknaz Uca, a member of the European Parliament known for her pro-Kurdish stance, regarded the meeting as “a very important step for peace” and expressed amazement that it was held in Ankara. Uca, a Kurdish politician who was elected to the European Parliament from the German Green Party, said she hoped these talks would yield positive results for peace. Speaking to the TDN, she also criticized Ankara's stand on the problem. 'The Turkish government favors peace processes elsewhere, like Lebanon, Palestine and Spain, but not in Turkey,' she said. 'I hope that Ankara takes a step towards peace in 2007. Let the new year bring open debate on the Kurdish problem.'

[TonyGosling]

Basque militants, surprised by bombing, refuse to admit cease-fire is broken

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01/04/news/nation/13_27_131_3_07. txt
By: MAR ROMAN - Associated Press

MADRID, Spain -- Basque separatists said Wednesday they were surprised by a fatal weekend car bombing at Madrid's international airport and insisted a nine-month cease-fire is still alive despite the attack, which the government blamed on the Basque armed militant group ETA.

Saturday's attack prompted the government to suspend plans for peace talks with the separatists.

Searchers on Wednesday found the body of one of two men missing in the rubble of the five-story parking garage at the airport, police said. The last fatal attack by the separatist group was more than three years ago.

Pernando Barrena, a leader of Batasuna, ETA's outlawed political wing, stressed there is no proof ETA is responsible because it has not issued a statement claiming responsibility. "The political process has not been broken," he said.

However, a caller who warned authorities before the explosion had said he represented the group.

Another senior member of Batasuna, Joseba Alvarez, told Basque radio the bombing had taken the party by surprise -- even though party officials recently said the peace process was in crisis.

"Nobody expected an attack like the one in Madrid," said Alvarez. He demanded that ETA explain the reason behind the attack, which left two people missing and 26 people injured.

Batasuna and ETA moderates who favored negotiations appear weakened after the bombing. Their comments on Wednesday also suggested a split between ETA and Batasuna, which could further complicate attempts to negotiate a solution to the Basque region's decades-long struggle for autonomy.

Batasuna is seeking recognition as a legal political party. During the cease-fire, it has asked that Basque separatists now in prisons around Spain be transferred to the Basque region of northwestern Spain.

In the aftermath of the bombing, the government suspended plans for peace talks with the separatists. On Tuesday, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba went even further, saying that that the process was "broken, over, liquidated."

The remains that were found in the rubble of the parking garage were those of Ecuadorean immigrant Carlos Alonso Palate, 35, a National Police official said.

Palate was believed to have been sleeping in a car at the time of the blast.

Another Ecuadorean, Diego Armando Estacio, 19, who was at the airport separately and also sleeping in a parked car at the lot, remains missing.

Alfonso del Alamo, director of Madrid's emergency services, said 154 charred cars have been removed from the site, all unrecognizable as vehicles. More than 600 cars were in the garage at the time of the explosion, which caused a major fire.

Madrid town hall has estimated that 40,000 tons of rubble will have to be removed from the bomb site at the airport's gleaming new Terminal 4.

ETA's last fatal attack was in May 2003, a car bombing that killed two policemen in the northern town of Sanguesa.

Until the truce, ETA had kept up relatively low-scale attacks on targets such as empty buildings, apparently taking pains to avoid loss of life.

ETA's campaign for an independent Basque state has killed more than 800 people since the 1960s.

[blackcat]

[Mark Gobell]

Within 2 hours of the 2004 Madrid train bombs going off, Spanish authorities blamed ETA.

Once again with the usual suspects signatures all over the recent outrage.

ETA ceasfire declared on 22.03.2006

Madrid Barajas Airport bombed on 30.12.2006 exactly 9 months, 1 week and 1 day later.

Unless ETA have now adopted the same methodology then I'm not surprised they are surprised.