Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly linked the issue of two Greek servicemen held in his country, after allegedly straying into the neighboring country's territory, with the fate of eight Turkish officers who have requested political asylum after a failed coup in Turkey nearly two years ago.
If confirmed, the statement would mark an "official" first by Ankara, as so far the issue of the pair's pre-trial detention has been left to a slow-moving Turkish justice system, with no fixed court date set to adjudicate specific charges. An initial charge of trespassing into a restricted military zone was filed against the two men.
"It is not fair for you to involve yourselves so much with the (two) Greek soldiers when you are not involved with extradition of the eight Turkish putschists," a front-page report in the Turkish mass daily "Hurriyet" had Erdogan telling EU leaders this week, in an article entitled "I am not above Turkish law".
The increasingly authoritarian Turkish president met with EU Council President Donald Tusk and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at an EU-Turkey summit in Varna, Bulgaria this week.
Hurriyet said Erdogan made the statements to Turkish reporters on a return flight from Varna, where he also reportedly said he told EU leaders that Turkish courts will decide, while also saying the two issues - military asylum seekers versus two Greek servicemen straying into Turkish territory - has not been connected by Ankara.
"Nevertheless, those that attempted a coup in our country are still in Greece," he was quoted as saying.
Several decisions, including one handed down by Greece's supreme court, have rejected requests by Turkish judicial authorities for the extradition of the men. At the same time, their asylum requests are pending before Greek tribunals.
Conversely, the two Greek servicemen - a lieutenant and a NCO - appeared to have strayed into Turkish territory earlier this month along a poorly demarcated spot on the land frontier between the two countries in the Thrace region.
Previous such incidents, whereby military personnel of either side wandered into the territory of the other country, were resolved in a matter of hours and at the brigade level. The latest incident, however, resulted in arrests and charges, raising concerns that the Turkish side wants to trade the men with the asylum seekers.
In a related development, a deputy for the right-wing Independent Greeks' party (AN.EL), the junior coalition partner in the current government, on Wednesday morning initially proposed an "exchange" of the two servicemen with the eight Turkish asylum seekers.
AN.EL MP Kostas Katsikis appeared on the Skai television channel to say that "on the one hand, we say that we can't intervene with the Greek justice system, but on the other hand, I don't know if we could bypass the justice system and the two country achieve an exchange agreement."
Following an avalanche of mostly negative media attention over his controversial statement, Katsikis later said his view was "personal" and doesn't reflect his party.
