Turkey blames Greece for unwillingness to fight terrorism

Turkish government has blamed Greece for unwillingness to fight terrorism after the Greek court ruled against extradition of 8 Turkish military men, who’d fled following an armed coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016. Turkey claims, the decision has been politically motivated.

““Once again Greece, an ally and a neighbor, has failed to fulfil the basics of the fight against terrorism,” Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement reads. Official Ankara also accused Greece of sheltering ultra-leftists and Kurdish insurgents, who carried out attacks in Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Ministry said, Turkey would make further efforts for extradition of the rebels, so that they could face trial. 

Turkish leadership has accused the military of involvement in the coup attempt and insists on their extradition for further investigation and court proceedings. 8 military men, who fled to Greece in a helicopter, plead not guilty and claim, their lives would be endangered in case of their extradition back to Turkey.

As BBC reported, the presiding judge of Greek Court, Giorgos Sakkas, stated that the men were unlikely to receive a fair trial in Turkey.

A military coup attempt took place in Turkey on July 15, 2016. The rebels were maintaining control over the central streets, bridges and several facilities of strategic importance in Ankara and Istanbul for a couple of hours. However, the coup was soon suppressed and all individuals involved were arrested.

Several hundreds of people were killed as a result of coup.

Turkish leadership blamed Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric residing in the USA, for orchestrating the coup and demanded his extradition.

Thousands of people were arrested in Turkey in course of investigation. The arrestees complained, their right were violated and they were subjected to tortures.