Two out of three is this week’s utterly peculiar result of separate hearings before a council of appellate justices on Turkey's extradition request for eight Turkish military officers and NCOs that requested political asylum in Greece after the coup attempt in the neighboring country last July.
On Thursday, the council ruled against the extradition of two of the eight; a day after the same council, but with a different composition of justices, ruled in favor of the extradition of three of the servicemen. The second ruling came after a first hearing at the beginning of the week, where the demand by Turkish authorities was rejected.
In all three hearings, the same bench prosecutor recommended that Turkey’s request be denied, whereby the chief Athens appeals courts’ prosecutor duly appealed the first ruling – which rejected the extradition.
“We are very pleased with today’s (Thursday) decision, which demonstrates that Greece is a country that respects human rights and European values. Let us not forget that we are in the land that gave birth to the concept of asylum, as the prosecutor rightly stated today,” the eight Turkish military servicemen said, in a joint statement, while adding:
“We are certain that justice will prevail in the end. We and our families thank all of the Greek people for their compassion and solidarity.”
In an address to the council of judges on Thursday, the lead counsel for the Turkish nationals called upon justices to rule based on law and not diplomacy.
