Greece Refuses Extradition Of Turkish Coup Soldiers!
28 January 2017By Dr. Abdul Ruff
Colachal
Turkey and Greece with common borders continue to face mutual tensions and
Greece is a major reason for Turkeys efforts to enter the EU as a European
power.
Also, those EU members who oppose Turkey to be a EU member mainly because
Turkey is the only Muslim nation in entire European continent. For most of EU
members find it embarrassing to have a Muslim nation in their estimably
Christian continent and create problems to deny Turkey its legitimate claim to
be in the EU, though economically and politically Turkey, a stable and
prospective nation both ways, would not gain anything being in this weak
association.
The Turkish military helicopter that landed in the Greek border city of
Alexandroupolis just as an attempted coup was being quashed in Turkey has
turned into one of the toughest diplomatic challenges to date for Greeces
relatively inexperienced government. On board were eight Turkish military
personnel — all unarmed helicopter crew members, it later turned out — who
issued a mayday signal and were granted permission for an emergency landing.
The eight immediately surrendered to Greek police. They insist they were not
involved in the attempted coup, had been tasked with transporting wounded
soldiers and civilians and had fled for their lives after coming under fire
from Turkish police.
Turkey disputes their claim, and has demanded their return to stand trial for
alleged participation in the violent attempt to overthrow the government. But
the eight have applied for political asylum in Greece, saying they would be in
danger if returned to Turkey amid President Recep Tayyip Erdogans widespread
purges of the military and civil service in response to the failed coup.
Turkey has been demanding from its neighbor Greece to hand over the former
military personnel involved the failed coup in Turkey to kill President
Erdogan and destabilize Islamist Turkey but Greece by using the issue as an
important asset to belittle Istanbul has refused to oblige the Turkish
government, citing some technical problems.
Greeces Supreme Court has ruled against the extradition of eight Turkish
soldiers who fled to Greece in July after a failed coup attempt in Turkey, a
decision which angered Ankara and further strained relations between the two
neighbours.
Turkey has demanded Greece extradite them to try them for their possible
involvement in the coup attempt and has branded them traitors.
The coup men who fled Turkey after their coup failed– three majors, three
captains and two sergeant-majors – landed a helicopter in northern Greece on
16 July and in oreer to get the support of Greece and EU sought political
asylum saying they feared for their lives in Turkey.
Without giving reason to use the military helicopter and fled Turkey after the
failed coup, the soldiers deny playing a role in the attempt to oust President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which led to a purge of the military and civil service.
''The possibility of their rights being violated or reduced regardless of the
degree of guilt or the gravity of the crimes they are accused of does not
allow the implementation of extradition rules,'' a Supreme Court president
said.
The soldiers have been kept in protective custody pending final decisions on
their asylum applications in Greece. Their lawyer Christos Mylonopoulos said
the verdict was ''a big victory for European values'', but he has not explained
how those who tried to engineer ac coup to destabilize Turkey and kill the
Islamist leaders as it has happened in Egypt is victory for Greece..
The court decision brought an angry response from the Turkish foreign
ministry, which accused Greece of protecting plotters and said relations
between the two countries would be reviewed. Turkey would ''use all avenues of
law'' to ensure the soldiers extradition and prosecution, it added. ''Once
again Greece, an ally and a neighbour, has failed to fulfil the basics of the
fight against terrorism,'' it said. ''The impact of this decision thought to be
made with political motives on our mutual ties, our cooperation in the fight
against terrorism and our work on other mutual and regional issues will be
subject to a comprehensive review.''
The state-run Anadolu news agency reported earlier that Turkish authorities
had issued arrest warrants for the soldiers. The soldiers have been accused in
Turkey of attempting to abrogate the constitution and dissolve parliament,
seizing a helicopter, using violence and attempting to assassinate President
Erdogan who is already facing problem form his former allies like Gulen who is
being shielded by USA for his involvement in the coup and other anti-Turkey
activities. President Trump is likely send Gulen back to Turkey for facing
legal procedures to clear himself of all charges of treason.
Relations between Greece and Turkey, neighbours and NATO allies, have improved
over the years but they remain at odds over territorial disputes and
ethnically split Cyprus. In 1996, they almost reached the brink of war over an
uninhabited islet.
Today, the two countries play an important role in the handling of Europes
worst migration crisis in decades and the EU depends on Ankara to enforce a
deal to stem mass migration to Europe. Turkey has been on the forefront to
help EU solve the explosive migration crisis by accepting thousands of
refugees.
The relations between the Greek and the Turkish states have been marked by
alternating periods of mutual hostility and reconciliation ever since Greece
won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832. Since then the two
countries have faced each other in four major wars—the Greco-Turkish War
(1897), the First Balkan War of 1912 to 1913, the First World War (1914 to
1918) and finally the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22). The latter was followed by
the Greco-Turkish population exchange and a period of friendly relations in
the 1930s and 1940s.
Both countries entered NATO in 1952 and normalized their ties without
tensions. Relations deteriorated again in the 1950s due to the Cyprus issue,
Greek destabilization moves, the 1955 Istanbul pogrom and the expulsion of the
Istanbul Greeks in the 1960s, leading to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in
1974, and subsequent military confrontations over the Aegean dispute. A period
of relative normalization began after 1999 with the so-called ''earthquake
diplomacy'', which notably led to a change in the previously firmly negative
stance of the Greek government on the issue of the accession of Turkey to the
European Union.
Both countries entered NATO in 1952 and normalized their ties without
tensions. Relations deteriorated again in the 1950s due to the Cyprus issue,
the 1955 Istanbul pogrom and the expulsion of the Istanbul Greeks in the
1960s, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and subsequent military
confrontations over the Aegean dispute. A period of relative normalization
began after 1999 with the so-called ''earthquake diplomacy'', which notably led
to a change in the previously firmly negative stance of the Greek government
on the issue of the accession of Turkey to the European Union.
After the failed 2016 Turkish coup détat attempt several Turkish military
personnel sought political asylum in Greece while Turkey requested their
extradition. Also, the Greek armed forces and Coast Guard was on alert and
increased the patrols and a contingent of the Greek It seems, police was
dispatched to some Greek islands to conduct checks there in order to prevent
the arrival of participants in the failed coup to Greece and arrest anyone who
might manage to enter the country. No details of detentions are available.
There has been a flow of anti-government Turks seeing asylum in neighboring
countries like Greece and Italy. The coup in Turkey was a deep rooted one but
failed because President Erdogan could detect the trouble well in advance or
before it was too late to do anything, so that coup could not succeed and some
plotters fled the nation. Also, the two Turkeys military attache in Athens
fled to Italy. The Greek Foreign Ministry canceled the two attache
accreditations on August 7, 2016, upon the request of the Turkish Foreign
Ministry. At August 11, 2016, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
said that they left Greece to Italy on August 6 and added that Turkey will
officially ask Italian authorities to extradite the two soldiers.
On August 25, 2016, seven Turkish citizens who supported the coup were seeking
asylum in Greece. A couple, both of whom are university professors, and their
two children applied for asylum in Alexandroupoli after they illegally entered
the country from the northeastern border. Also, three businessmen have
illegally reached the Greek island of Rhodes, and they also applied for
asylum.
On August 30, 2016, interestingly, a Turkish judge arrived in the Greek island
of Chios on a migrant boat and sought asylum in the country. He told the Greek
coast guard and police officers that he is against Islamist government and is
being persecuted in Turkey for his political beliefs by the government of
President Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish judge had been arrested for illegally
entering the country and, also, he transferred to Athens for his asylum
proceedings.
On September 21, 2016, ten Turkish civilians, two men, two women and six
children landed by boat illegally on the Greek island of Rhodes and sought
asylum. They told to the Greek authorities they were working in the private
sector in Turkey and they were being persecuted by the Turkish government for
opposing it and due to their political beliefs. On September 29, 2016, five
Turkish nationals, a couple and their child and two other men, arrived in
Alexandroupolis by crossing the Evros River by boat illegally and requested
political asylum
The arrival of coup plotters on board a Black Hawk helicopter on July 16 – and
their asylum applications in particular – have created a diplomatic headache
for Greece, which has a long history of delicate relations with its much
larger and more powerful eastern neighbor. The two countries last came to the
brink of war 20 years ago over a territorial dispute in the Aegean Sea that
separates them, and while they have since enjoyed far warmer ties, tensions
are never far away. Greece often complains of Turkish fighter jet violations
of its airspace in the Aegean.
Greek officials quickly returned the helicopter, and have suggested they would
like to return the eight as well as per international law but has not kept
their word. . .Many in Greece supporting the coup say the frequent comments by
Turkish officials, including Erdogan himself, about reinstating the death
penalty are complicating matters. If death penalty legislation is introduced
in Turkeys parliament, Greece or any other European Union member would
struggle to extradite someone to a country where they might be executed.
Turkeys ambassador to Athens, Kerim Uras, has warned that the Turkish public
is closely watching the case, and a failure to return the military personnel
could have repercussions on bilateral relations. ''If they are returned as soon
as possible, this can really turn into a great, positive thing for bilateral
relations,'' Uras said. if Greece indicates that the military personnel would
be returned, Turkey might refrain from turning up the pressure on Athens.
Greece apparently now serves as the safe haven for the coup plotters and
anti-national operators in Turkey and Greece supports the anti-Turkish
protester sand agitators and plotters as a policy. And hence the Supreme Court
also supports the coup plotters and refuses to extradite them.
Extradition of outsiders from neighboring countries is a law that is followed
by most countries even without request from the countries where they belong.
But Greece and USA still refuse to extradite those from Turkey with
anti-government charges.
This attitude strengthens the anti-Islamic movements particularly in Islamic
world.
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EsinIslam.Com
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