ETA political wing reforms

According to information released by the Basque daily newspaper Gara ETA’s political wing is planning to rename its political party. The new party will be called ‘Sortu’ which means create in the Basque language will be presented to the Home Office Register of Political Parties in Madrid today.

Yesterday Rufi Etxeberria and Iñigo Iruin presented the aims and statutes governing ‘Sortu’ in an act which took place in the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao. According to Etxeberria and Iruin ‘Sortu’ openly rejects ETA and will not under any circumstances become a tool of the terrorist organization. The political party will also develop its activities based on the rejection of violence as a political tool or method to achieve political objectives whatever their origin or nature – this includes ETA and actions which damage the freedom and rights of others.

Moreover, there is a commitment to contribute to the definitive and total disappearance of any forms of violence in particular that perpetrated by ETA.

The party also rejects the different forms of violence and terrorism as specified under the law. Anybody found to break this code will be expelled from the party.

The statutes of ‘Sortu’ include ‘a commitment to contribute to overcoming the consequences of all violence and terrorism in favour of peace, justice and reconciliation in Basque society and a commitment to the recognition of all the victims of the violence which has been present in the Basque Country over the last few decades’.

Following the unsuccessful attempts in the past for the political wing of ETA to enter mainstream politics the text in which the statutes of ‘Sortu’ are set down also emphasizes its objective is to break with previous organizational models which have occupied the Basque social and political panorama in the past with the specific aim of preventing violent organizations infiltrating the party or its use by political parties which have been declared illegal because of their tolerance of violence.

The text setting down the aims of ‘Sortu’ also states that it is committed to promoting and defending a model of society in accordance with the European declaration of Human Rights.

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