ATHENS Ñ The 2004 Olympic Games in Athens is good news for Greece and bad news for the Marxist November 17 terror organization.
Suddenly national security is in Greece's national interest, and some politicians are beginning to sweat
The failure by authorities until recently to turn up a single lead in the group's 1975 assassination of CIA station chief Richard Welch has long frayed U.S.-Greece ties and has led to speculation in the Greek press of the group's links with Greek politicians.
As preparations accelerate for the 2004 Olympics, such speculation is increasing as authorities have reported that for the first time several key members of the group have been arrested.
One of them is a 60-year-old professor who was born in Paris
and spent most of his life in France. He has been identified as the
ideological chief of November 17.
The suspect has been identified as Alexandros Giotopoulos, who also went
under the
alias of Michalis Economou, Middle East Newsline reported. Greek officials said he was captured on a remote Greek island
and flown to Athens as part of a new wave of arrests of suspected
insurgents.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis urged his ministers not to respond to
reports in the Greek media regarding the investigation. Several Greek newspapers reports
have focused on suspected ties between Greek politicians and November 17
militants.
"I want to reply to them that we will catch all those responsible and
that there will be full publicity," Simitis told the Cabinet. "At the
present juncture, however, what is needed is seriousness, restraint and
identification."
November 17 is a Marxist group that killed 23 people since 1975 and is
believed to have been formed during the Greek military junta period in the
late 1960s. Western intelligence sources have determined that elements of
the group were linked to Greece's largest socialist party, Pasok.
Officials said Giotopoulos Ñ whose father Dimitris was a well-known
follower of Soviet founder Leon Trotsky Ñ lived most of his life in France
where he served as a professor at a university in Strasbourg. They said
France was involved in the investigation and arrest of the suspect.
Greek officials said Giotopoulos was arrested as he
attempted to flee a remote Greek island for Turkey. The officials said his
identity and whereabouts were obtained through the arrest of
other suspected November 17 members and raids on two of the group's
safehouses.
Over the last week, Greek authorities, aided by Britain and the United
States, have identified weapons believed used by November 17 in targeting
Western figures. This included the identification of a 45-caliber pistol
employed to kill British defense attache Brig. Gen. Stephen Saunders in
2000.
Police said three November 17 members have confessed to killing Saunders
as well as other assassinations of Westerners. They were identified as
Christodoulos Xiros, 44, Vassilis Xiros, 30, and Dionissis Georgiakis, 26.
Officials said Christodoulos Xiros confessed to participating in the
assassination of two U.S. military personnel Ñ U.S. defense attache Capt.
William Nordeen in 1988 and and Air Force Sgt. Ronald Stewart in 1991.
The United States has been closely monitoring the Greek investigation.
U.S. officials said ambassador Thomas Miller was summoned to Washington for
consultations.
The United States has also been monitoring security preparations for the
Athens Olympic Games. Several European and U.S. firms have been consulting with
Athens to help improve security.
Authorities are examining three final bids for a project to upgrade
Greek border checkpoints. The tender calls for the improvement of five posts
in a $7 million project.
The security effort for the Olympic Games has led Greece to contend for
other international exhibitions. They include the World Expo, which Greece
is hoping to hold in Thessaloniki in 2008.
