Turkish soldiers seeking asylum in Greece arrested and charged

Following from our breaking story on the weekend over the landing of a Turkish military helicopter in Greece, carrying members of the military coup, Greek City Times can now reveal that contrary to initial reports, the Turkish Black Hawk was not given permission to land and all eight occupants were arrested and charged on Sunday by a prosecutor for violating Greek airspace.

All eight Turkish nationals are military personnel claiming asylum in Greece to avoid persecution in Turkey following the failed military coup that took place over the weekend.

According to their Greek lawyer in astonishing new revelations, all eight men claim they had no idea they were taking part in a military coup, and only realised something was wrong when police began firing at them. According to the men they were told by their superiors they were taking part in a military exercise.

Meanwhile Turkish officials have demanded Greece return the men and in what appears to be a pre- emptive move, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told media that he had spoken to his Greek counterpart and that Greece has agreed to promptly return the ‘traitors’.

Many though in legal circles including prominent Athenian lawyer Alexandros Lykourezos, claim that based on international law and due process, Greece might have to grant the Turkish soldiers political asylum after all.

The matter of international law was hinted at by Alexis Tsipras, during his conversation with Erdogan who had called the Greek PM to thank him for his stance on the military coup.

According to government sources Tsipras responded to the Turkish PM by saying the Greek people are committed to the principles of democracy and constitutional legality and that the issue of the Turkish nationals seeking political asylum in Greece will be examined according to international law and the human rights treaties.