Greek court agrees to extradite members of Turkish military

ATHENS, Greece – A Greek court agreed Tuesday to extradite three Turkish servicemen who were part of an eight-person helicopter crew that fled to Greece after a failed military coup, a decision that came a day after it refused to send three others back to Turkey.

All eight helicopter crewmen deny participating in the coup attempt and a plot to assassinate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They flew to Greece the day after the attempted coup and maintain they would not have a fair trial in Turkey.

The six who already have been through extradition proceedings remain in custody while the outcomes are appealed.

A defence lawyer is challenging the rulings for the three who are supposed to be sent back, while a Greek prosecutor is fighting to have the three who were given protection in Greece removed.

The Athens court that issued the previous rulings through panels made up of different judges is expected to decide on the remaining two servicemen in coming days.

Christos Mylonopoulos, a lawyer for the three men who were ordered extradited on Tuesday, slammed the decision. He called the prosecutor’s decision to appeal Monday’s unanimous ruling for the other three equally unacceptable.

“It wouldn’t bother me if it was just unusual,” Mylonopoulos said of the prosecutor’s appeal. “What bothers me greatly is that it is not grounded in law.”

He attributed the difference between the court’s rulings a day apart to the Turkish government’s reaction to the Monday ruling.

Following the court’s decision not to extradite the first three crew members, Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik stressed Ankara’s interest in seeing the whole crew sent back to Turkey.

“Our expectation from the Greek government is to display every kind of effort possible for (the eight) to be returned,” Isik said.

The issue has strained relations between Turkey and Greece, NATO allies that also have been at odds over territorial claims in the Aegean Sea and the fate of the divided island of Cyprus.