QA-43, 5 June 2018, Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hami Aksoy, in response to a question regarding the release of all of the eight fugitive putschists who had fled to Greece

Republic Of Türkiye Ministry Of Foreign Affairs 05.06.2018

We have expressed our condemnation of Greece’s repeated refusal to extradite the eight fugitives who had taken part in the treacherous coup attempt of July 15 and had then fled to Greece, as well as the release of, and the granting of asylum by the Greek Council of State to, one of these traitors. We have also expressed our expectation from the Greek judiciary not to repeat the same mistakes by taking similar biased decisions in the future.

However, it has been learned that Greece has released the other seven remaining fugitives over the past few days. The release of all the fugitive putschists cannot be explained as a routine administrative decision pertaining to their detention period.

With this decision, the putscists will be able to move freely in Greece. Hence, Greece has clearly exposed itself as a country that provides safe haven to putschists.

The release of the traitors who plotted a coup in order to overthrow the democracy in a neighboring country by a country, which claims to be the cradle of the democracy conforms neither to international law, nor to good neighborly relations.

We remain determined to ensure that the fugitive putschists are extradited to and stand trial in Turkey.

Atatürk

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