9 May 1978: A black day in European Political History: The Murder of Aldo Moro
May 9 is one of the worst days in European Political History, the anniversary of the death of Aldo Moro, the leader of the Cristiana Political Party and the former Prime Minister of Italy. Aldo Moro is a democratic leader who served as prime minister of Italy from 1963–1968 and 1973–1978. He was in great rivalry and tension with the Christian Democracy Party (Democrazia Cristiana) and the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano) in which Aldo Moro, who was serving as the Prime Minister of Italy, took part. Even though this rivalry has been going on for years, history showed that the tension between the two parties started to decrease when October 1973 showed.
In October 1973, the leader of the Italian Communist Party, Enrico Berlinguer, suggested the necessity of reconciliation between the two parties in an article titled “Riflessioni sull’Italia dopo i fatti del Cile” (Reflections on Italy after the Chile Events) published in the “Rinascita” magazine. The tension between the two parties was starting to move towards reconciliation. From this date until 1978, Aldo Moro also made an effort to ensure political reconciliation between the two parties. He even prepared a Christian Democrat cabinet to be backed by the Italian Communist Party in response to this effort. [1]
Article by Enrico Berlinguer, leader of the Italian Communist Party, titled “Riflessioni sull’Italia dopo i fatti del Cile”, published in the magazine “Rinascita”.
While the reconciliation between the two parties was getting better, Italy was shaken by the kidnapping of Aldo Moro on March 16, 1978. On the morning of the day Aldo Moro was abducted, members of the Red Brigade terrorist organization killed and kidnapped Aldo Moro, who was on his way to the Italian Parliament, killing five security guards responsible for protecting him. With the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, the threat of terrorism in Europe, Italy and the International System came to the fore again. After fifty-five days, he was found dead in the trunk of a car. But there was something interesting here. The car in which Aldo Moro’s body was found was located halfway between the Italian Christian Democracy Party and the Italian Communist Party headquarters (equal distance from the headquarters of both parties). [2]
The murder of Aldo Moro went down in history as one of the turning points in the development of security and defense policies against terrorism, especially in the perspective of Western Europe and Italy against terrorism.
Resources:
[1] Enrico Berlinguer, “Riflessioni sull’Italia dopo i fatti del Cile”, Rinascita , 12 Ekim 1973, [https://enricoberlinguer.org/home/enrico-berlinguer/documenti-politici/5-riflessioni-sull-italia -dopo-i-fatti-del-cile]
[2] Leonardo Sciasca, Aldo Moro Vakası , Çev. Neyyire Gül Işık, İstanbul, Mayıs 2016, S. 9.
