Greek court acquits Turkish worker, returns excavator to Turkey

ORESTIADA

A court of appeal in Greece’s border city of Orestiada on Jan. 8 decided to acquit a Turkish worker who unintentionally crossed the border with an excavator in May 2018.

The construction machine should be returned to Turkey’s Edirne Municipality, it added.

Musa Alerik, 38, was detained and given a jail time of five months and a fine of 1,500 euros for driving the excavator some eight meters into Greek territory on May 1, 2018, however the sentence was suspended.

He was sent back to Turkey on May 5, 2018.

On Jan. 8, the court in Orestiada listened to the testimonies of two Edirne Municipality employees, who said Alerik has been working for the municipality for 10 years and had no intention of entering Greece.

“Musa is not a passport holder and it was his first time working at the customs area. He did not realize he crossed the border because the uniforms of the soldiers [on each side of the border] are so similar,” Ayhan Özer said.

After listening to Turkish and Greek lawyers, the court gave a verdict in favor of the worker and the Edirne Municipality, reversing the previous decision of the court of first instance.

The case was seen related with strained relations between Turkey and Greece over two Greek soldiers detained on the border area and released after several weeks.