New 'abertzale' group applies for legal status as "democratic" party

Five representatives of Sortu, the new Basque abertzale political grouping, on Wednesday presented their statutes at the Interior Ministry, and described the party's ideology as "based on the principles of democracy."

The Sortu leaders, all political unknowns, were accompanied by a leader of Irish party Sinn Fein, for years the political wing of the IRA, and a British lawyer. Having registered Sortu, Iñaki Zabaleta, a professor at the University of the Basque Country, read a manifesto on the steps of the ministry but avoided answering a question as to whether the political heir to outlawed separatist party Batasuna would call for the dissolution of ETA.

"We are not a continuation of anything," Zabaleta stated, in reference to the 12 different incarnations of Batasuna that have emerged since 23 members of the leadership of Herri Batasuna were arrested in 1997. "Nobody will absorb this party to use it for actions and principles other than those established in its statutes," Zabaleta continued, reiterating Sortu's rejection of ETA violence, adding that the party would work "exclusively through political channels."

Among the structural changes to the previous abertzale model is a permanent commission made up of four members and the holding of an annual party conference. Also included in Sortu's statues is a pledge to expel any member who takes part in violent acts.

The Interior Ministry will forward the Sortu statues to the Public Prosecutor and the Attorney General's Office. The final decision on whether Sortu will be allowed to stand in local elections in May will be taken by Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges.

Sortu is to present itself in the Basque Country next Monday, amid great expectation. At the ceremony, abertzale leaders Rufi Etxeberria and Iñigo Iruin will lay out the grouping's definitive rejection of any type of violence on the part of ETA.

"The force of rejection of all types of violence and their instruments as laid out in the statutes, and externalized, without ambiguity or circumlocutions with respect to the ETA organization, should put an end to any presumption of connivance with ETA or illegal organizations," said Iruin, the abertzale organization's lawyer.

The emergence of Sortu has been met with cautious reaction, at best, by the main political parties. The Popular Party has been most vociferous in its calls for ETA to hand over its arms, and submit to the rule of law, while the Basque Nationalist Party has limited itself to recognizing a step in the direction of a peaceful solution. Etxeberria said that if the courts required further evidence of Sortu's commitment to democracy, it would "carry out their requirements."

Quizzed yesterday as to the significance of Sortu's statutes, the prime minister said: "We will have to wait."