ATHENS – The main opposition New Democracy,, disputing government claims, said Prime Minister and Radical Left SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras wants to return eight military members who fled a failed coup to Turkey to satisfy President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s demands.
Greece’s highest court ruled against extradition and one of the men received asylum, prompting Tsipras’ Administration, which ironically includes the pro-austerity, marginal, jingoistic, anti-Turkey Independent Greeks (ANEL) of Defense Minister Panos Kammenos to demand it be revoked.
Elements in SYRIZA said after the eight men landed in a helicopter in northern Greece in July, 2016 – who said they had taken no part in the coup attempt and feared for their lives – suggested they should be be promptly returned and unnamed government officials told Kathimerini “coup plotters” weren’t welcome.
That has led New Democracy to reject SYRIZA claims it won’t push for extradition, saying the government is laying the groundwork for their return and is interfering with justice.
“The government has for weeks failed to dismiss Erdogan’s claims that Tsipras promised to prepare the ground for the extradition of the eight Turkish servicemen,” New Democracy spokeswoman Maria Spyraki said.
“The eight servicemen who fled to Greece cannot be extradited to Turkey under the present circumstances. The Supreme Court has irrevocably ruled on this (issue,),” Spyraki said.
“The procedure for granting asylum to the servicemen has not been finalized, but the government has shown its intent,” she added.
“The procedure for granting asylum to the servicemen has not been finalized but the government has shown its intent,” said Maria Spyraki.
Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said the decision by the Supreme Court last January not to extradite the eight servicemen is irrevocable and tried to separate it from asylum even though trying to revoke it would send the cases back to the courts that the government said it’s not interfering with, trying to obstruct justice.
“They cannot be extradited, regardless of the outcome of their asylum applications,” he said. “There is nothing secret here.”
In an interview with Real FM, Tsipras said that a session of the Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council scheduled to take place in the first half of this year should go ahead despite disagreements between the two countries.
“The worst thing one can do is not communicate, not have channels of communication and contact, not try and tackle existing problems,” Tsipras said.
“We do not have this kind of logic, we have proven this and I believe it is good that we have opened up channels of communication despite our existing differences,” he added.
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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Mstyslav Chernov License: CC-BY-SA
Source: thenationalherald.com
