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Is this the end of 17N?
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| 16 August 2002 |
By Tamara Makarenko and Daphne Biliouri
When Savvas Xiros was injured in an explosion near the port of Piraeus, Greece, on 29 June, Greek and international counterterrorist officials got the breakthrough that had eluded them for almost 30 years, and quickly moved to crack down on the most elusive terrorist group in Europe: the Revolutionary Organisation 17 November (17N).
However, the series of arrests and evidence gathered as a result of Xiros' infamous mistake may not herald the inevitable destruction of 17N. On the contrary, an examination of the contemporary development of the group . . . brings into question the extent to which authorities can confidently claim they have disrupted the revolutionary group.
Generally speaking, the upper echelons of 17N consist of educated professionals whereas the lower rungs have consistently been younger and less intellectual. Furthermore, three generations are discernible under the 17N umbrella: first generation members, between the ages of 50 and 60; second generation members, aged 35-40; and new recruits, aged 20-30.
According to the myths surrounding 17N, the three generations of terrorists have always operated together. This conclusion, however, ignores evidence of divisions within the group that came to fruition in the early 1990s. Although Alexandros Giotopoulos has always been considered the ideological father and overall head of 17N, by the end of the 1980s a clash over operational leadership surfaced. As a result, 17N split into two factions: one led by Dimitris Koufodinas, the second led by another man known by the alias 'Sardanapalos'. Koufodinas is believed to have maintained the ideological focus of his group, which included the Xiros brothers; whereas JIR sources have confirmed that the team led by 'Sardanapalos' were quick to abandon their ideological commitment for economic motivations.
It is worth noting that the vast majority of known Koufodinas followers were from the Greek island of Ikaria, near the Turkish coast. As with the nearby island Leros, Ikaria was predominantly used as a location for exiled communists in the 1970s. More specifically, Ikaria was known as an intellectual base because it attracted poets and writers. Thus merely in geographical terms it is evident why the Koufodinas' team remained ideologically focused.
The 'Sardanapalos' group, on the other hand, is from the prefecture Thesprotia - located on the coast of northwestern Greece. Thesprotia and surrounding areas are centres for human trafficking and smuggling operations to Italy. Evidence also suggests that these areas are used as transhipment points for narcotics going to Western European destinations, and weapons going north. Ironically, the pseudonym 'Sardanapalos' commonly refers to somebody engaged in criminal undertakings.
Complicating the dynamics of 17N are widespread rumours that the group as a whole has benefited from government collusion.
As an organisation, 17N is held responsible for 23 assassinations and over 140 attacks, including mortar assaults, drive-by shootings and detonating improvised explosives.
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