Terrorism in Greece
Terrorism in Greece has roots in the political turmoil of the 20th century, particularly following the military dictatorship known as "junta". The junta's brutal repression and violent crackdown on dissent sparked widespread public anger and radicalization, culminating in the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising when student protests were violently crushed by military force. In the aftermath, several extremist groups emerged, most prominently the far-Left Revolutionary Organization 17 November, which targeted U.S., British, and Greek officials in a campaign of assassinations and bombings. These groups framed their actions as resistance against imperialism, capitalism, and the remnants of authoritarianism.
Although the Junta fell in 1974 and democracy was restored, proliferation of terrorism was amplified in the 1980's by the soft stance of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou's administrations by repealing previous anti-terrorism legislation and with his Arab opening in foreign policy. Terrorism reached at its peak in the Koskotas scandal where Pavlos Bakoyannis, a member of Parliament and prominent figure in the indictment of Papandreou and four of his ministers, was assassinated. In 2001, Greece adopted a stable counter-terrorism framework that led to the dismantling of 17N just before the 2004 Olympic Games. However, the terrorism legacy continued to exert influence, with various anarchist and revolutionary factions carrying out sporadic attacks into the 21st century. The financial crisis of 2008 led to the increase of nationalism and the appearance of far-right extremist groups, such as Golden Dawn, who became the country's third largest party in the September 2015 election but was criminalised in 2020 after narrowly being voted out of parliament in the 2019 election, following the culmination of a five–year trial that declared it a criminal organisation and sentenced its political leadership.
History
First legislation
After the restoration of democracy in 1974, Greece was going through a stabilization phase, but terrorist attacks started to rise. Many youths, inspired by the Athens Polytechnic uprising, were sympathetic to Left-wing organizations advocating violence against authority. The slowing down of the economy and the high inflation caused by the oil crisis in the 1970s fueled the rise of these incidents. In response, Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis passed the 1978 anti-terrorist law, which was based on the recently enacted Italian and German anti-terrorist bills. At the time, opposition leader Andreas Papandreou decried the law on the basis that it suppresses civil liberties and the Greek constitution, and he further claimed that no such law is required simply because Greece does not have the social and political conditions for people to cause such violence.Stance of Papandreou
Papandreou ascent to power in late 1981 marked a major shift in policy. He abolished Karamanlis' law based on the argument that this law "does not concern the terrorists, but it creates the ideological and political conditions to terrorize the Greek populace." He also made an opening to Arab regimes. Specifically, he improved relations with 'radical' Arab nations, such as Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, Hafez al-Assad's Syria, and letting Palestine Liberation Organization members stay in Greece, antagonizing the United States. However, the combination of these policies effectively let terrorists operate in Greece in the 1980s with impunity.Papandreou's soft stance on terrorism created friction with the Reagan administration. In June 1985, international attention was drawn to the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 from the Athens airport. After this incident and Papandreou's inaction on the matter, the U.S. produced a travel advisory against Greece, resulting in an 80% drop in U.S. visitors and loss of considerable tourism income. In November of 1985, another hijack from Athens resulted in 61 dead.
The reputation of Greece as a tourist destination deteriorated further by the frequency of incidents; in 1986 alone, there were twenty bombings in Athens. Infighting between Arab groups led to a series of anti-Gaddafi dissidents being found murdered and Syrian agents killing PLO members on Greek soil. On 11 July 1988, nine tourists were killed, and eighty others were wounded in an attack on the Greek ferry boat at the City of Poros. PASOK's response to these events was to deny them by claiming that it was an American conspiracy, or that terrorists were freedom fighters. A notable example of the latter was Ozama Al Zomar's release from prison and his extradition to Libya instead of Italy, where he was suspected by Italian police of the Great Synagogue of Rome attack. Papandreou's Justice Minister, Vassilis Rotis, explained this course of action by justifying that the attack "falls within his struggle to regain the independence of his homeland and consequently suggests action for freedom."
Rise of 17 November
The primary terrorist organization in Greece was Revolutionary Organization 17 November. Operating from December 1975 until its dismantling in 2002, it assassinated 23 people, mainly Western diplomats with military or intelligence roles and prominent businessmen. Soon after taking power, Papandreou closed down the police unit investigating the organization. In the first two years of Papandreou's rule, the 17N organization was inactive. Presumably, Papandreou's anti-EU, anti-NATO rhetoric aligned with 17N goals.After the new agreement for the U.S. bases to stay on Greek soil, 17N turned against Papandreou. In 1985, in an attack responding to the death of a 15-year-old boy by police, the organization claimed that Papandreou's PASOK is "now working for the Right, which explains why it has yet to be overthrown." It also turned against industrialists based on the belief that they were getting large bonuses from Papandreou's governments, state money meant for investments and instead used for increasing their wealth. Notable deaths were the President of the Halyvourgiki Hellenic Steel Industry, Dimitrios Angelopoulos, in 1986, and two years later the Director of LARCO, Alexandros Athanassiadis. The 17N organization power reached a turning point in the Koskotas scandal when a parliamentary member and the architect of indictment of Papandreou and four ministers, Pavlos Bakoyannis, was assassinated.
Misplaced surveillance
For much of the 1980s, Greek police remained underfunded and demoralized, weakened by Papandreou's anti-authoritarian rhetoric, resulting in few terrorist convictions. At the same time, Papandreou used the junta's surveillance infrastructure exclusively to keep track of his political enemies, labeled as terrorists, including well-respected politicians such as Karamanlis, from political opposition Konstantinos Mitsotakis and Evangelos Averoff, senior ministers in PASOK governments who may be potential successors such as Costas Simitis and Georgios Gennimatas, newspaper publishers, police chiefs, and even PASOK's governmental spokesman.Change of course
The change of course from Papandreou's policy on terrorism came from Mitsotakis' government in the early 1990s by reinstating Karamanlis' anti-terrorism legislation and any terrorists found, and the PLO representatives were expelled. In 1993, upon the return of PASOK to power, it repealed the new legislation. Papandreou resigned from PASOK leadership in January 1996 and died in June of the same year. Later, his successor, Simitis, passed new anti-terrorist legislation in 2001, and he brought to justice the 17N organization before the 2004 Olympic Games.List of active and dismantled terrorist organizations
Nihilist Faction
The Nihilist Faction was a nihilist anarchist organization in Greece, which claimed responsibility for a 28 May 1996 bombing of IBM offices in Athens. The attack caused extensive structural damage but no injuries. The group claimed responsibility in a statement for other attacks in April of this year, like the arson of the deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Greece and former president of the Prosecutors' Association, and a fire bombing against a shopping center on Tsakalof Street in Kolonaki, leaving material damages in both incidents. The group was founded in 1996.Revolutionary People's Struggle
Revolutionary People's Struggle was a far-left urban guerilla organization that operated between 1975 and 1995 before its members announcing its disbandment. It was the largest terrorist organization by number of group members in Greece.Revolutionary Organization 17 November
N17 was a Greek far-left Marxist–Leninist urban guerrilla organization formed in 1975. The Greek government arrested many members of the 17 November organization in the summer of 2002. In 2003 15 members were found guilty of multiple murders and convicted for more than 2,500 crimes.Revolutionary Struggle
The Revolutionary Struggle was a far-left Greek paramilitary group known for its attacks on Greek government buildings. It was widely described as a terrorist organization by both the Greek government and the media.Revolutionary Nuclei
Revolutionary Nuclei was, anti-U.S., anti-NATO, and anti-European Union urban guerrilla organization that conducted 13 bomb attacks in Athens between 1996 and 2000. The first attack for which RN took credit was a bomb attack on Greek Coast Guard installations in Piraeus on 11 May 1997, but it later acknowledged that two earlier attacks were carried out by RN members. Per its four proclamations, RN fought against the "imperialist domination, exploitation, and oppression" of Greece.On 27 April 1999 an RN bomb targeting a conference at the InterContinental Hotel in Athens killed one person. In December 1999 RN set off explosives near Texaco's offices in Athens.
Revolutionary Self-Defense
The Revolutionary Self-Defense was a militant anarchist organisation formed in 2014, it was dismantled in 2019. It claimed to fight to "construct a mass internationalist revolutionary movement, by strengthening militant resistance on the entire spectrum of class antagonism".On November 10, 2016, a police officer, who had been on guard outside the embassy, was wounded when unknown assailants threw a hand grenade on the French embassy building, days later the group claimed responsibility for the attack. Militants shot against members of the riot police when they are parked in the downtown in Athens, Greece. The incidents left no one injured.
The group was suspected of a 2016 grenade attack the Russian embassy in Athens.
Black Star
Black Star was a Greek anarchist urban guerrilla group involved in violent direct action.During the period between May 1999 and October 2002, Black Star was one of the most active anarchist groups in Greece. They described themselves as anti-imperialist, anti-establishment, and anti-capitalist. The group declared itself to be dedicated to "resistance against the mass organizations of US imperialism and to their local collaborators." They believed that "the only terrorists are the US imperialist forces, their European allies, and their local capitalist associates."