Turkey accuses Greece of "protecting terrorists"

The Turkish government has attacked Greece over its decision to grant asylum to one of the eight Turkish soldiers who sought refuge in the country after the 2016 failed coup in Turkey accusing it of protecting putschists.

In a strongly worded statement on Thursday, Turkey’s foreign ministry accused Greece of protecting coup plotters following an irrevocable decision by Greece's Council of State to grant asylum.

On Wednesday the court rejected an effort by the Greek government to block an earlier decision by an asylum committee to grant asylum status to Suleyman Ozkaynakci. 

The ruling on Ozkaynakci is expected to influence the course of the other seven soldiers' applications.

"The Greek Council of State, in defiance of the rules of international law, granted asylum to putschist Süleyman Özkaynakçı.

“It has been thereby reaffirmed by the international community that Greece is a country, which protects and shelters the putschists. We strongly condemn this decision that deeply offends the conscience of the Turkish nation,” the Turkish Foreign ministry said in its statement.

“We hope that the Greek judiciary will refrain from repeating the same mistakes by taking similar biased decisions in the future,” it added.

Ankara has repeatedly called for the extradition of “Turkey’s eight,” claiming they were involved in the foiled attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Greece's Supreme Court has already ruled against their extradition to Turkey, saying they will not have a fair trial.