July 16 July Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey requested extradition of eight military personnel who had escaped to Greece and the return of the Turkish military helicopter that transported them. The Greek authorities responded stating that the helicopter would be returned as soon as possible. Regarding the passengers, they said, "we will follow the procedures of
international law. However, we give very serious considerations to the fact that they are accused, in their country, of violating the constitutional order and trying to overthrow democracy." The Turkish Foreign Minister made a statement, posted on Twitter, that the soldiers who landed in Greece claiming
asylum would be extradited. A Greek government source denied this, saying the asylum request would be processed swiftly but that international law and human rights would be fully respected. The lawyer assigned to four of the Turkish military officers said they were all medical crew in
Istanbul, that they didn’t know about the
coup, and that they had families and children in Turkey. She also added that the officers received orders on the evening of 15 July to transfer some injured people in their helicopters. They followed orders without knowing that a coup was under way. At some point, police opened fire against their helicopters. By that time, they were aware that a coup was under way and feared they would be executed as participants if they stayed in Turkey, so boarded a helicopter not damaged by police fire, and flew to Greece to request asylum. The lawyer also added that they were "in a bad mental state" because they were afraid for both their own and their families’ lives. They didn't believe that they would be given a fair trial in Turkey. After 11:00 p.m. (
EEST), a second Turkish
Black Hawk helicopter with extra crew members arrived at the Greek airport from Turkey in order to retrieve the first helicopter. After the crew checked the first helicopter, both helicopters returned to Turkey early on the morning of 17 July.
17 July The eight Turkish soldiers appeared before a Greek prosecutor at
Alexandroupoli on the morning of 17 July and were charged with entering the country illegally, jeopardizing Greek and Turkish relations, and illegal flight. Seven were charged with instigating the illegal flight while the eighth, who was piloting the helicopter, was accused of executing the illegal flight.
18 July On 18 July, the Turkish soldiers appeared before a judge in Alexandroupoli. They arrived at the courthouse in civilian clothes with their faces covered. The court postponed the trial to 21 July 2016. Turkish officials who sat directly behind the Turkish soldiers in the courtroom threatened the soldiers until a Greek lawyer asked for them to be moved. Their lawyer said that: "My clients told me that in the
court were people from Turkey, and they said bad words against them. Someone who speaks Turkish told me they called them 'dogs, traitors, we will kill you'. Something like that." Greek Deputy Defence Minister
Dimitris Vitsas noted that the group's asylum applications were being processed and a decision would be made by the Greek courts. Although the applications would be examined under both "Greek and international law", the argument for extradition was "very strong". The Turkish ambassador to Greece indicated that if the soldiers were not returned to Turkey, it would not help bilateral relations between the two countries. Greek lawyer Konstantinos Starantzis said: "I suspect that the Greek authorities want a clean and immediate extradition procedure. However, there are strong legal arguments to oppose such a thing. We have to consider the safety of their lives. That is the first argument when granting asylum. They can't be extradited if there is the suspicion of a political or a military prosecution against them – and harsh penalties." On 21 July, the Greek court sentenced the eight soldiers to two months in prison, suspended for three years, for illegally entering Greece, and they were acquitted of violating flight regulations since the regulations do not apply to military aircraft. The court recognized the mitigating circumstances that the men faced, having acted while under great threat. They remained in custody pending the outcome of their applications for asylum. During the trial there were six Turkish lawyers. One of them threatened the eight officers, resulting in immediate intervention by the Greek police who told the lawyer to leave the court. On the morning of 22 July, the soldiers were transferred to
Athens for safety reasons. Their lawyers said they had not been told about the transfer until the police director of Kavala informed them at noon. On 27 July, the eight soldiers requested and received postponement, in order to be better prepared. The interviews for the first two were set for 19, 23, 24 and 25 August.
August–October On 10 August, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office sent an extradition request to the Justice Ministry to be sent to Greek authorities for the eight servicemen because of their suspected role in the coup attempt. On 19 August, one of the Turkish servicemen, Captain Feridun Çoban, appeared before a Greek asylum committee. On 29 August, three of the soldiers told the Asylum Commission that they had intentionally sought asylum in Belgium, France, and Spain so as to avoid extradition. On 21 September, the lawyer for the three soldiers, Ms Stavroula Tomara said that they would appeal the extradition decision. The other five soldiers were to be re-interviewed by the asylum commission in Athens. On 11 October, the first-instance board of Greece’s political asylum commission rejected the asylum application of another four of the eight coup-plotting soldiers. “We came to Greece to save our lives, not be pawns of foreign policy and bilateral agreements. We have not been labeled terrorists even in our own country,” their statement said.
December On 5 December, a Greek court refused to extradite three of the soldiers, stating that to do so could put their lives in danger. The Turkish
Minister of National Defence,
Fikri Işık, reacted angrily saying that: "terrorism is terrorism, there is no distinction. The courts should make more careful decisions on terrorist organizations. The Governments of the other countries must show their allied solidarity. Greece is Turkey's ally in NATO. Our expectations from the Greek government is to try its best so that these members of the
Fethullah Gülen network to return to Turkey" On 6 December, a separate court approved extradition of another three of the soldiers. The soldiers and a chief Athens prosecutor appealed that decision. All appeals were to be heard by |Greece's Supreme Court. On 8 December, The Greek court ruled against the extradition of the last two Turkish soldiers. == 2017 ==