Greece has become a gathering place for criminals: Turkish Justice Minister

ANKARA

Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül has sent a letter to his Greek counterpart Stavros Kontonis, saying that “Greece has become a gathering place for criminal.”

Gül’s letter came following a Greek high court’s decision to release a former Turkish soldier from custody, state-run Anadolu Ageny reported on April 21.

On April 19, the Greek Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, ordered the release of Süleyman Özkaynakçı under judicial control.

Özkaynakçı is one of the eight former Turkish servicemen who fled to Greece a day after the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Gül has said in his letter that Greece repeatedly refused to extradite the ex-soldiers to Turkey and that the court order to release one of them upset Turkey.       

Gül also said Greece had condemned the failed coup attempt of 2016 but afterwards had taken to sheltering and protecting those responsible for the coup attempt, thereby casting a shadow over Turkish-Greek solidarity.       

"Since the failed coup, Greece has been a safe haven for criminals from our country,” he wrote.       

“Greece has become a gathering place for criminals," Gül said, adding that the former Turkish soldiers in Greece should be extradited to Turkey as soon as possible.