Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

600 • REVOLUTIONARY POPULAR STRUGGLEweapons: on 16 June firing upon but missing the Turkish nationalpolice headquarters, on 14 July hitting the Harbiye Officers’ Clubbut without causing significant damage, and on 16 September withanother attack on the Turkish national police headquarters but againwithout effect due to the failure of the rocket to explode on impact.Most of the DHKP/C’s activities have occurred in the environs ofIstanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Adana. The group numbers a few dozenarmed militants and several hundred supporters who also maintain asupport network among Turkish expatriates in Europe.REVOLUTIONARY POPULAR STRUGGLE. The Greek EpanastatikosLaikos Agonas (ELA) was a shadowy anarchistic leftistterrorist group formed in 1973 to oppose the former military junta inGreece. Actual terrorist activities began only in the postjunta period,in which it has sought the limited aims of forcing Greece out of theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the removal of U.S.troops from Greece.During its existence the ELA engaged in more than 200 bombingscausing property damage and 17 injuries but only two fatalitiesamong targeted victims. From 1975 to 1987 the ELA bombed at leasteight U.S. targets, usually military targets of little strategic value,such as noncommissioned officers’ clubs or commissaries, or U.S.diplomatic properties, such as the U.S. Information Agency officein Athens, or offices of private American firms, such as the AmericanExpress office in Athens. In October 1987 ELA members had ashoot-out with Greek police in which one terrorist was killed and twoothers arrested. The Greek police believed the ELA had connectionswith the November 17 group, and it also appeared to work in tandemwith the May 1 group. The last known attack by this group was on 10July 1994 when it bombed the German-owned Goethe Hellas insurancecompany office in Athens.The group was finally destroyed with a series of police raids followinga six-month investigation: On 1 February 2003, Kimolos AngeletosKanas, a 52-year-old electrician, was arrested and on 2 February2003, Irini Athanassaki, a 48-year-old-tourist agency employee, wasarrested. On 4 February 2003 the Athens police arrested the ELA mastermind,Christos Tsigaridas, a 64-year-old architect. The identities ofthe ELA core cell were revealed to authorities by Sophia Kyriakidou,the former wife of Kanas, who discovered that her ex-husband hadbeen assembling bombs in a central Athens safe house.