The Sinn Fein president has called on Basque separatists to follow Northern Ireland's example and pursue dialogue and a "democratic solution" to their 30-year armed conflict.
"Let's hope it will be possible [for Basques] to arrive at the same configuration of forces as what we have built here during years of strife, and that that will also allow for a democratic solution," Mr Gerry Adams told the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, in an interview published yesterday.
Mr Adams said Sinn Fein members had held talks recently with Herri Batasuna, political wing of the armed Basque group, ETA, but he did not specify if the talks were before or after the open-ended ceasefire ETA called on Wednesday.
The ETA truce, its first, ended the group's 30-year armed struggle for an independent Basque state that has left almost 800 dead.
ETA said its truce was based largely on Northern Ireland's peace process and uses much of the same language found in the historic peace accord there.
"We believe that conflicts must be resolved with dialogue," Mr Adams said. "We also believe it is essential to count on the government's participation as well as that of opposition forces.
"The government is responsible for showing its ability to lead."
The links between the Basque separatist movement and republicans date back to the early 1970s when ETA provided the IRA with handguns, according to Mr Sean Boyne of Jane's Intelligence Review.
In the 1980s, the IRA passed on car-bomb technology to the Basque guerrillas, while ETA is believed to have provided logistical support for IRA operations against British interests in Germany and the Netherlands.
Recently, the focus has been on political contact, with Sinn Fein and Herri Batasuna regularly attending each other's annual congresses.