The Greek coalition government's closely scrutinized position vis-a-vis the highly sensitive issue of eight Turkish servicemen that fled Turkey following a failed coup in July 2016 made another "swerve" on Thursday, with the relevant justice minister saying the government would "study" the prospect of a court trial against them in Greece if Turkish authorities made such a request.
The Greek coalition government's closely scrutinized position vis-a-vis the highly sensitive issue of eight Turkish servicemen that fled Turkey following a failed coup in July 2016 made another "swerve" on Thursday, with the relevant justice minister saying the government would "study" the prospect of a court trial against them in Greece if Turkish authorities made such a request.
Minister Stavros Kontonis expressed a view that such a prospect is possible under Greek law, and even cited an article, number VIII of the criminal code, as he said. Under such a development, the eight Turkish officers and NCOs would be tried in Greece for alleged offenses committed abroad, which in this case would be their home country, Turkey.
The Tsipras coalition government have faced an avalanche of criticism and derision in Greece by the opposition and civil liberties advocates over its latest decision to seek the overturning of a most recent ruling by an independent judicial committee. The three-member committee opted to grant political asylum to one of the eight Turks. Petitions for asylum by the other seven are pending.
At the same time, the leftist-rightist coalition government has been the recipient of official indignation and even veiled threats by the Erdogan-dominated government and foreign ministry in Ankara, in the wake ruling by the independent Greek judiciary to reject extradition requests, and more recently, the asylum decision.
Kontonis, an attorney by training who first emerged on the national spotlight during a far-left-inspired outdoor "people's court" in Syntagma Square in 1999 to "try" then US President Bill Clinton during the latter's brief official visit to the country, added that "the issue is to have a fair trial (for the eight), as the prime minister (Alexis Tsipras) told President (RecepTayyip) Erdogan."
Nevertheless, he echoed previous government statements that the issue of extraditing the eight men back to Turkey is permanently closed.