"[4] The Turkish Foreign Minister made a statement, posted on Twitter, that the soldiers who landed in Greece claiming asylum would be extradited.
A Greek government source denied this, saying the asylum request would be processed swiftly but that international law and human rights would be fully respected.
[5][6] The lawyer assigned to four of the Turkish military officers said they were all medical crew in Istanbul, that they didn’t know about the coup, and that they had families and children in Turkey.
By that time, they were aware that a coup was under way and feared they would be executed as participants if they stayed in Turkey, so boarded a helicopter not damaged by police fire, and flew to Greece to request asylum.
[20] He added that "Greece should not given landing permission to Turkish helicopter, it should not have even allowed it to enter Greek FIR.
One of them threatened the eight officers, resulting in immediate intervention by the Greek police who told the lawyer to leave the court.
[27][28] On 10 August, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office sent an extradition request to the Justice Ministry to be sent to Greek authorities for the eight servicemen because of their suspected role in the coup attempt.
[34][35] On 5 December, a Greek court refused to extradite three of the soldiers, stating that to do so could put their lives in danger.
Our expectations from the Greek government is to try its best so that these members of the Fethullah Gülen network to return to Turkey"[37] On 6 December, a separate court approved extradition of another three of the soldiers.
[46] Presiding judge Giorgos Sakkas, reading out the decision on Thursday, said the eight were unlikely to face a fair trial if returned to their home country.
[47] The Court was also concerned about the possibility that these men would have been humiliated and even tortured in their own country, and claimed that its decision is based on respect for human rights.
[49] The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that, "This decision is another indication of Greece’s reluctance in fighting against terror organizations like the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) which target Turkey".
[51] On 28 January, the office of Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras responded, saying: "We underline that the perpetrators of the coup are not welcome in our country.
In any case, Greece applies the constitutionally-established and undisputed principle of separation of powers, with full respect for international law.
Within Greece the sole responsible for the relevant judgments are the independent Greek Justice, whose decisions are, undoubtedly, binding.
[53][54] Eleven former bar association presidents from Greece issued a joint statement calling on the Greek government to respect the decision and grant political asylum to the Turkish soldier.
[55] On 2 March, Turkey arrested two Greek soldiers for allegedly entering a Turkish military zone, on accusation of attempted espionage.
Greece said the two soldiers on a patrol of the Greek-Turkish border accidentally strayed into Turkey Thursday because of bad weather.
[56] On 19 April, the European Parliament called for the Turkish government to immediately release the two Greek soldiers and on the Commission as well as the EU member-states to end accessions negotiations with Turkey and suspend pre-accession funds.