Turkish FM slams Greece on not extraditing ex-soldiers

By Erkan Avci

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s foreign minister Saturday slammed Greece’s refusal to extradite eight former soldiers allegedly involved in the July 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, which left at least 248 people martyred and injured some 2,200.

“Greece preventing the traitors from being prosecuted for their crimes is not in line with good-neighborly, friendly relations,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told Anadolu Agency.

The number of Turkish citizens who have illegally entered Greece since the July 15 defeated coup now stands at 100, including the eight ex-soldiers who fled there in a stolen helicopter hours after the coup bid and requested asylum.

Ankara has repeatedly requested the extradition of the eight men, promising they would get fair trials. But on Jan. 26 the Greek Supreme Court ruled against their extradition.

“Unfortunately this attitude is no surprise to us. The PKK's head who is now in prison was hidden by Greece too,” Cavusoglu added, referring to the terrorist group’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who was caught and jailed in 1999.

On Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias’ remarks that Turkish “general staff chief couldn’t set foot on the Kardak [islets] even if he wanted to,” Cavusoglu said: “If his duty was to do so, he would have done it. Let’s not forget that we set foot on the places we were supposed to. Our stance on Kardak is clear.”

The uninhabited Aegean islets of Kardak (Imia) brought Turkey and Greece to the brink of armed conflict in 1996 and led to renewed tensions this year.

On Jan. 29, Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar visited the islets.