A Greek court has ruled to extradite 3 out of 8 Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece after the failed coup attempt, The Daily Sabah has reported.
The coup against President Erdogan began on 15 July 2016 and ended the next day.
On 16 July 2016, eight Turkish military personnel landed in Alexandroupolis in northerneastern Greece. They landed in the city onboard a Black Hawk helicopter.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu demanded extradition of “the eight traitors as soon as possible” in which the Greek authorities responded: “We will follow the procedures of international law. However, we give very serious considerations to the fact that [the Turkish military men] are accused, in their own country, of violating the constitutional order and trying to overthrow democracy.”
The Athens council of appeals judges approved Turkey’s extradition request for three of the group Tuesday on charges of being involved in the coup, attempting to impede a parliamentary session and the seizure of a helicopter. It rejected the charge of involvement in an assassination attempt against President Erdoğan, the Daily Sabah report continued.
The court ruled that the thee pilots should be returned to Turkey to stand trial for three of the four crimes they are accused of by Turkey, lawyer Stavroula Tomara told Reuters.
The pilots have appealed the ruling at the country’s top court, she added.
