Reuters — Greece’s Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on Thursday on whether or not to extradite eight Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece in a helicopter after a failed military coup in July, the Athens News Agency reported.
Turkey alleges the men were involved in the July 15 coup attempt against President Tayyip Erdogan and has demanded their swift extradition.
The men, who deny the accusations and have requested asylum in Greece, say their lives would be in danger at home where authorities are purging large numbers of people from the armed forces and other state institutions.
The case has exposed often tense relations between Athens and Ankara, NATO allies at odds over issues from Cyprus to islets and air rights over the Aegean.
The case was taken to Greece’s top court after previous decisions – to extradite five and not extradite three – were contested.
Should the Supreme Court rule the soldiers must be extradited, their asylum applications will be overridden.
If it rules against extradition, the soldiers will await decisions on their asylum requests in Greece which are not expected for months.
More than 60% of Greeks signalled in a recent poll that they were staunchly opposed to surrendering to Turkey’s extradition request.
Three supreme court prosecutors separately said that under no circumstances should the officers be returned to a nation where they risked being tortured and their lives would be endangered. Charalambos Vourliotis, one of the prosecutors, told the court that it was Greece’s civic duty to uphold the law and European values.
Athens would face stern criticism if the men were extradited. Tsipras is acutely aware that an irate Erdogan could open the way for thousands of refugees to enter Greece – effectively turning a blind eye to the agreement he has signed with Europe to curb the flows – if the decision doesn’t go his way.
“This is going to create problems one way or the other,” Aristides Hatzis, a professor of philosophy of law at the University of Athens told The Guardian. “Ultimately this is an ethical issue, a clash between morality and moral principles and raw political power,” he added drawing a parallel with Britain and France when they chose to appease Hitler in 1938. “Do we abandon those principles or appease a country that is clearly becoming increasingly authoritarian?”
