Turkey prods European countries to return terrorists

By Meltem Bulur and Sultan Cogalan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey pushed back Friday against European countries harboring terrorist fugitives, saying it expects their extradition no matter what group they belong to.

"No matter what their affiliation, we expect these terrorists to be returned to Turkey," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Huseyin Muftuoglu told reporters in the capital Ankara.

Muftuoglu specifically hit out at Greece refusing to return ex-soldiers implicated in last year’s defeated coup and Germany granting asylum to members of the group blamed for the coup bid, the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

The attempted coup martyred 249 people and wounded some 2,200.

Germany granting asylum to terrorist group members "does not seem worthy of an ally," he said.

On Greece's “wrongful” refusal to extradite the eight former soldiers, he said, "Greece's decision raised question marks on our thinking about our ally and neighbor. It’s up to Greece to remove those question marks."

The former soldiers had fled Turkey just after the collapse of last July’s coup attempt.

Asked if Turkey could deny U.S. forces the use of Incirlik air base after Washington’s decision to arm PKK/PYD forces in Syria -- a move Turkey has blasted as supporting terrorists -- Muftuoglu said Ankara would decide after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump next week.

Turkey considers the PYD and its armed wing, the YPG, to be the Syrian offshoots of the PKK, a banned terrorist organization in the U.S., Turkey, and the EU. But Washington has said the groups are partners in its fight against Daesh in northern Syria.

Since the PKK resumed its armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015, it has been responsible for the deaths of some 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.