Eight Turkish soldiers, who had fled Turkey after the 2016’s failed coup attempt, are under heavy protection in Greece, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Sunday citing a Greek newspaper.
According to Anadolu, Athens-based Ta Nea newspaper reported that eight soldiers were transferred to a military barrack in Greece under heavy protection due to fear of kidnapping or of an assassination attempt as they were released after their 18-month detention period ended.
The former Turkish soldiers are staying in a special area protected by an 80-strong police force including snipers, according to the paper says Anadolu.
The newspaper said the Greek government was alarmed after Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ’s remarks, the report added.
"It is our duty to find these putschist soldiers wherever they are, pack them up and bring them to Turkey," Bozdağ, said late Monday after slamming Greek authorities for failing to hand the eight soldiers who fled to Greece.
In March Turkey's intelligence agency brought back from Kosovo six members of US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen's network blamed for orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt. Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj dismissed the interior minister and the secret service chief after the arrest and extradition to Turkey of six Turkish nationals.
Greek defense minister Panos Kammenos has said he plans to brief his counterparts during a meeting of NATO defense ministers Thursday on the controversial remarks made by Bozdağ.
Kammenos said Turkish minister's comments would allow Greece "to demonstrate in the most simple manner how Turkey violates international law, international treaties, and [how it] tries to torpedo efforts at peaceful coexistence in the region."
Turkish AKP government sent fighter jets roaring into Greek airspace as tensions mount between the two neighbours following the release from pre-trial detention of eight Turkish army officers described as traitors by Ankara.
Bozdağ personally criticised the Greek prime minIster, Alexis Tsipras, for failing to hand the soldiers over to Turkey after they flew into Greek airspace.
Ankara on Thursday suspended a bilateral agreement with Greece allowing Athens to return migrants to Turkey, in retaliation for Greece's failure to extradite eight Turkish soldiers.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters Thursday that the readmission agreement with Greece had been halted, although a separate migrant deal reached with the European Union was still in place.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called for "restraint and calm" after Ankara suspended its bilateral migrant readmission deal.
Speaking to journalists following the meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) in the Defence Ministers' session in Brussels on June 7, Stoltenberg said he discussed the ongoing dispute between Athens and Ankara, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Greek government.
