November 17 Member’s Published Book Causes Tension

The recently published autobiography by convicted member of the Greek terrorist organization November 17, Dimitris Koufontinas, which is available from March 5, in Greek bookstores, has already caused much debate. In his book, entitled “I Was Born November 17,” Koufontinas reveals many details about the activities of the organization, as well as about the coordination and implementation of many of the group’s operations and executions. The senior member of November 17 says about his book that he provides “without renouncing his personal story” a first account of his journey after “being active for forty years in the movement (8 years as a part of the movement, 20 years in N17 and 12 years as a political prisoner),” while also “contributing to the history of the post-junta movement of armed criticism.” Koufontinas acknowledges that the only mistake made by the organization was the death of a young passerby, Thanos Axalian, who was killed in July 1992 in a failed rocket attack on the Greek Finance Minister of the time, Ioannis Palaiokrassas. The convicted Greek terrorist also refers to the attacks on Turkish officials stationed in Greece, stating that the urban guerrilla group didn’t follow a “nationalistic” agenda, as “N17 did not attack random Turks, but only delivered hits on the Turkish imperialistic capitalism, whose victims are also everyday Turkish people.” Dimitris Koufontinas is considered to be one of the key members of November 17 and was present at most of the operations conducted by the group. He was the organization’s cashier and thus responsible for the money gathered in the several hits, which until today is still unaccounted for. He is currently serving a life sentence at Korydallos prison in Athens. Political reactions on the publication of the book The book has already triggered massive reactions all over Greek social media and the political scene. The cover of the book alone, which depicts Greek resistance fighters during the Second World War, got many negative reviews, which were also critical of the publishing house, Livanis Publications. The publisher, however, accompanied the book’s release with a statement distancing himself from everything written in the book, but not commenting on the selection of the specific cover. Meanwhile, the decision of the leader of the radical left group Roza, which is part of SYRIZA, Nikos Giannopoulos, to preface the book, caused tension earlier on Wednesday in parliament, with many MP’s from New Democracy asking SYRIZA to denounce its member, claiming that it isn’t possible for the main opposition party in a Republic to have ties to a terrorist group.

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