Terrorism in Greece

Terrorism in Greece has roots in the political turmoil of the 20th century, particularly following the military dictatorship known as "junta" (1967–1974). The junta's brutal repression and violent crackdown on dissent sparked widespread public anger and radicalization, culminating in the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising when student protests were violently crushed by military force. In the aftermath, several extremist groups emerged, most prominently the far-Left Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17N), which targeted U.S., British, and Greek officials in a campaign of assassinations and bombings. These groups framed their actions as resistance against imperialism, capitalism, and the remnants of authoritarianism.

Although the Junta fell in 1974 and democracy was restored, proliferation of terrorism was amplified in the 1980's by the soft stance of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou's administrations by repealing previous anti-terrorism legislation and with his Arab opening in foreign policy. Terrorism reached at its peak in the Koskotas scandal where Pavlos Bakoyannis, a member of Parliament and prominent figure in the indictment of Papandreou and four of his ministers, was assassinated. In 2001, Greece adopted a stable counter-terrorism framework that led to the dismantling of 17N just before the 2004 Olympic Games. However, the terrorism legacy continued to exert influence, with various anarchist and revolutionary factions carrying out sporadic attacks into the 21st century. The financial crisis of 2008 led to the increase of nationalism and the appearance of far-right extremist groups, such as Golden Dawn, who became the country's third largest party in the September 2015 election but was criminalised in 2020 after narrowly being voted out of parliament in the 2019 election, following the culmination of a five–year trial that declared it a criminal organisation and sentenced its political leadership.