Greek court OKs extradition of three Turkish military officers

A Greek court ruled on Tuesday in favor of the extradition to Ankara of three of the eight Turkish military officers who fled to Greece in July a day after the failed coup attempt in Turkey.

This ruling came a day after the same court on Monday ruled against the extradition of three other officers, while a ruling on the last two was due later this week.

The Athens Appeals Court accepted Turkey's extradition request for the three officers on Tuesday on charges of participating in a coup attempt and seizing a military helicopter, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

However, the Greek judges rejected the charge of involvement in an assassination attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Meanwhile, the Athens Appeals Court had rejected the extradition request for three other officers, accepting their argument that should they be sent back to Turkey, their safety would be in danger.

All eight officers have claimed, from the first moment they landed in the city of Alexandroupolis in northern Greece in a Turkish military helicopter, that they had no involvement in the coup attempt.

They said they fled to Greece fearing for their lives once they came under attack on the evening of the coup attempt on July 15.

After Tuesday's ruling, their attorneys announced they would appeal and intended to bring the case all the way to the European Court of Justice.

On the other side, from the Athens chief prosecutor Antonis Liogas' office it was announced that Monday's ruling would be contested before Greece's Supreme Court. Endit