Greece fires back at Turkey over asylum row

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Greece has defended its decision to grant asylum to a soldier accused of involvement in a July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey which has been angered by the move.

The soldier was one of the eight who fled after the abortive coup against President Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey said on Saturday the decision by a Greek asylum board undermined relations between the two countries and accused Athens of harboring "coup plotters," a charge Greece denies.

The asylum board rejected the applications by the other seven soldiers, and the Greek government has appealed the decision to grant the soldier asylum and sought its annulment. But it says the country's judiciary is independent.

"Our faith in democratic principles and practices is not a weakness, but a source of strength," the Greek foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. "Democracies do not threaten, or can be threatened," the foreign ministry said.

"On the contrary, they work responsibly and methodically to promote understanding and entrench stability and good neighborly relations. Greece will continue this path... and hopes its neighbors will do the same."

The eight soldiers had flown by helicopter to Greece in the early hours of July 16, 2016, as the attempted coup against Erdogan the day before crumbled. They had denied involvement in the attempt.

The countries are at odds over a host of issues from ethnically split Cyprus to sovereignty over airspace, but their relations had improved in recent years.

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(Cover photo: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a joint press conference in Athens on December 7, 2017. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters