Iparretarrak
[[Iparretarrak´s anagram. It consists of a monogram of the letters IK and the motto Herriak bizi behar du, "The people must live".]] Iparretarrak ("the Northerners" in Basque) or IK is an armed Basque nationalist organization operating in the French Basque Country. It was founded in 1973 by Philippe Bidart, to date, 1982 remains as their most active year, with 32 attacks; despite having mostly targeted tourist developments, it has also assassinated a number of French police personnel. In 1984, they attacked the Biarritz airport before the arrival of the French president François Mitterrand, who was accused by IK of not respecting the Basque culture and national rights.
Despite basically sharing the same goals and methods, it has an uneasy relation with ETA, a more powerful organization based in the Spanish Basque Country, mostly due to the fact that ETA uses the French Basque Country as a sanctuary and does not want to provoke the French Government in this regard.
In 1998 it declared a unilateral truce, which broke when in 2000 it attacked a police station in Lekunberri and a touristic site in Bayonne. To date, it has not claimed any more actions, but another groups, like Irrintzi, has taken the place of IK in northern Basque Country starting a campaign against tourist targets.
In 2007 the leader and founder of IK Philippe Bidart was set free after being in prison since 1988. Nowadays, there is no member of IK in prison.
IK members Killed in Action (KIA)
- Txomin Olhagarai (1980)
- Ramuntxo Arruiz (1980)
- Didier Laffite (1984)
- Maddi Hegi (1987)
- Cristophe Isteke (1987)
- Jean Louis Larre, Popo (disappeared since 1983)
External links
See also
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