Ertzaintza is the police force of the Basque Country, one of the autonomous communities of Spain. A Ertzaintza member is a ertzaina. For the band, see The Police. ... Capital Vitoria-Gasteiz Official languages Basque and Spanish Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 14th  7 234 km²  1,4% Population  â€“ Total (2003)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 7th  2 108 281  5,0%  291,44/km² Demonym  â€“ English  â€“ Basque  â€“ Spanish  Basque  euskal herritar, euskaldun  vasco/a, vascongado/a Statute of Autonomy... Autonomous communities of Spain. ...

The origins of the current Ertzaintza, as a police force pertaining to the Basque Country, can be traced back to the old municipal militias, which were popular organizations at the service of local bodies, created to satisfy the need for public safety. But it was not until the 19th century when, setting aside the precedent willingness, the almost permanent police corps of a professional nature were created. It was a response to the banditry caused by the continuous social and political upheaval occurring from the end of the 18th century and well into the 19th. The decisive argument for its configuration was the First Carlist War, when the "Miqueletes" of Biscay and Guipuzcoa and the "Miñones" of Alava commenced their activities. A militia is a group of citizens organized to provide paramilitary service. ... Background Main article: Carlism In the beginning of the 18th century, King Philip V of Spain promulgated the Salic Law, thus declaring illegal the inheritance of the Spanish crown by women. ... Vizcaya province Vizcaya (Basque Bizkaia) is a province of northern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. ... Guipúzcoa province Guipúzcoa (Basque Gipuzkoa, Spanish Guipúzcoa, in English sometimes as Guipuscoa) is a province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. ... lava (Basque Araba, Spanish lava) is a province of northern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. ...

Once the urgencies of the war were overcome, the Spanish Government attempted to recover the functions carried out by these regional forces and transfer them to the Civil Guard, which was created in 1844. Nevertheless, due to difficulties encountered when recruiting forces for this corps in the Basque provinces, plus the pressure posed by the other regional Governments, the very same regional forces were able to more or less carry on with their task. After the end of the Second Carlist War (1876), the Spanish government wished to curtail the regional autonomy. The Basque police forces had to adapt to this new centralist tendency, and said changes mostly manifested themselves in a reduction of personnel & operational capabilities See Guardia Civil for other meanings of the phrase The Guardia Civil is a Spanish police force with both military and civilian functions. ... The Carlist Wars in Spain were the last major European civil wars in which pretenders fought to establish their claim to a throne. ...

When the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in 1931, political activity surged and so did the Basque claim to re-establish regional liberties that had been abolished in 1876. Thus, various projects for the Autonomy Statute were promoted, all of which vindicated developing competences in public security issues. History of Spain series Prehistoric Spain Roman Spain Muslim Conquest of Iberia Timeline of Muslim Occupation Medieval Spain Age of Reconquest Age of Expansion Age of Enlightenment Reaction and Revolution First Spanish Republic The Restoration Second Spanish Republic Spanish Civil War The Dictatorship Modern Spain Topics Economic History Military History...

On October 1st, 1936, already in the Spanish Civil War, the Basque Statute of Autonomy come into force, leading to the establishment of an autonomous government with actual authority over the provinces of Biscay and Guipuzcoa. One of the priorities of the new government was the re-establishment of public order. History of Spain series Prehistoric Spain Roman Spain Muslim Conquest of Iberia Timeline of Muslim Occupation Medieval Spain Age of Reconquest Age of Expansion Age of Enlightenment Reaction and Revolution First Spanish Republic The Restoration Second Spanish Republic Spanish Civil War The Dictatorship Modern Spain Topics Economic History Military History...

The Basque Interior Minister Telesforo Monzón set up several institutions, such as the International Police Force, the Maritime Police and the public Order Body. The main effort was the creation of a police force named Ertzaña (a Basque neologism for "People care"), with on foot and motorised corps (Igiletua), totalling joint forces of around 1,500 agents. Its headquarters were in Bilbao, at the Ibaigane Palace (currently the see of Athletic Bilbao). Athletic Club de Bilbao is a Basque football club from Bilbao in Vizcaya. ...

When the war on the Basque front concluded, the Ertzaña was dissolved de facto, albeit such a measure is not reflected on any of the legal norms at the time, since Franco's Nationalist regime pretended that this institution had never existed. Having allied themselves with the losing Republican side, Biscay and Guipuzcoa were considered "traitor provinces" and most of their autonomy was anulled. However, since at outbreak of the civil war Alava and Navarre had thrown their lot in with the Nationalists, the Miñones and Miqueletes continued on duty, with assignments such as traffic patrols and custody of the regional institutions. Francisco Franco Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde Salgado Pardo de Andrade (December 4, 1892 – November 20, 1975), abbreviated Francisco Franco Bahamonde and sometimes known as Generalísimo Francisco Franco, was Head of State of Spain from 1936 until his death in 1975. ... History of Spain series Prehistoric Spain Roman Spain Muslim Conquest of Iberia Timeline of Muslim Occupation Medieval Spain Age of Reconquest Age of Expansion Age of Enlightenment Reaction and Revolution First Spanish Republic The Restoration Second Spanish Republic Spanish Civil War The Dictatorship Modern Spain Topics Economic History Military History... Navarre (Spanish Navarra, Basque Nafarroa) is an autonomous community and province of Spain. ...

After the Spanish transition to democracy, the autonomous Basque Government was restored. Its government once again took up the spirit of the Ertzaña of 1936 to design, in 1980, the new autonomous police force of the Basque Country, the Ertzaintza (a more grammatical form). Previously, a Royal Decree re-established the "Forales" and the "Miqueletes" in Biscay and Guipuzcoa and gave a new configuration to the "Miñones" corps in Alava. These institutions were incorporated into the new Basque Police Force. The Spanish transition to democracy or new bourbon restoration was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. ...

Because Navarre, during the events surrounding Spain's 1978 Constitution, ended up with the status of Autonomous Community and was not lumped in with the autonomous community called Euskadi/the Basque Country, its police force remains independent of the Ertzaintza in both the operational and political sense. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 is the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. ... Autonomous communities of Spain. ... Basque Country (Basque Euskadi, Spanish País Vasco) is an autonomous community of Spain whose capital is Vitoria (Basque Gasteiz). ...

The first promotions were enthusiast members of the Basque Nationalist Party. The law required that Ertzaintza officials had to be previous members of the Spanish army or the State police forces. However, this wasn't always respected. This new and young police force, made up by Basque citizens, develops in an organized manner as from 1982, and were progressively deployed starting from the countryside towards the capitals. During the coexistence, the Basque Country had one of the highest ratios of police agents to population. Ertzaintza has taken the range of roles of the National Police and the Civil Guard. As of 2004, up to seventeen promotions of agents, have graduated from the Police Academy of the Basque Country, in Arkaute (Alava). The Basque Nationalist Party is a political party in the Basque region of Spain. ... ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Ertzaintza is currently an full-range police force, but for border watch. The state polices have decreased their numbers in the Basque Country. Counter-terrorism is a shared competence among the polices. This has occasionally led to clashes and even shootings out of confusion. Counter-terrorism refers to the practices, tactics, and strategies that governments, militaries, and other groups adopt in order to fight terrorism. ...

Currently, the Ertzaintza counts on a staff of 7,500 agents, framed within four divisions, each of them specialized in a series of specific police tasks, and supported by the corresponding complementary services.

• Beltzak ("the blacks") are the black-dressed riot police.
• Berrozi, those training in the abandoned village of Berrozi, Alava.
• AVCS ("Attaches to the Vice Councilorship of Security")

Ertzaintza is not accepted by leftist Basque nationalists, who deride it as zipaioak, ("Sepoys", an indigenous force serving the colonial power). As Ertzaintza took a more relevant role in the fight against ETA, it has become a target of terrorism. It was infiltrated by ETA members. In the areas where support for ETA is higher, ertzainas prefer to reside elsewhere and commute to work. The Gernika oak is a symbol of Basque freedoms. ... A sepoy (from Persian سپاهی Sepâhi meaning soldier) was a native of India employed as a soldier in the service of a European power, usually of the United Kingdom. ... ETA can refer to: eta is a Basque word for and. Eta (letter) - from the Greek alphabet. ...

The Spanish governments have had contentions about Ertzaintza. Spanish parties have often accused the Basque Home Office (always held by the Basque Nationalist Party) of being soft on the fight against ETA and its supporting party Batasuna. Ertzaintza is not allowed to access the Interpol intelligence network. Batasuna (Unity) is a Basque political party based mainly in Spain but with a French presence, which is presumed to be associated with the Basque separatist paramilitary group ETA. It is part of the Basque National Liberation Movement which includes social organizations, trade unions, youth (Jarrai and Gazteriak, now merged... Interpol logo Interpol, more correctly the International Criminal Police Organization – Interpol (ICPO-Interpol), was created in 1923 to assist international criminal police co-operation. ...

Name

Ertzaña was a Basque neologism from the Biscayne forms erri ("people") and zañ ("guard"). The generic Basque word for "police" is polizia (or jendarma in French Basque Country). Following the standardization of Basque in the 1960s, the name of the restored force became "Ertzaintza" from the respelled herri and zain (compare with artzain, "sheepherder" from ardi + zain), with the suffix -tza. However to maintain a link to the past, the silent H was not included. A gendarmerie (French) is a military body charged with general police duties. ... This article is about the traditional Basque domain. ...

See also

• Hertzainak ("Policemen") was a Basque-language pop group.

External links

• Official web page