A Greek court decided on Tuesday to extradite three Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece after a failed coup against President Tayyip Erdogan in July, one of their lawyers said.
The three pilots were among a group of eight Turkish soldiers who fled to northern Greece in a helicopter and sought political asylum, saying they feared for their lives in Turkey.
Turkey alleges the soldiers were involved in the July 16 coup attempt and has called them traitors. They all deny involvement in the attempt to dislodge Erdogan from power that led to a purge within the country’s military and civil service.
The court ruled that the thee pilots should be returned to Turkey to stand trial for three of the four crimes they are accused of by Turkey, but not for attempting to kill Erdogan, lawyer Stavroula Tomara told Reuters.
The pilots have appealed the ruling at the country’s top court, she added.
On Monday, the same Greek court ruled that three other Turkish soldiers should not be returned home.