Greece Denies Asylum Request of 3 of 8 Defector Soldiers

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

According to the Greek media, the asylum requests of three of the eight soldiers who fled to Greece following the coup attempt on July 15 have been rejected by the political asylum commission.

The remaining five soldiers will be interviewed again next week and their asylum request will be evaluated.

It has been reported that the soldiers will be able to appeal to a higher court if their asylum requests are denied.

“We did not know about the coup attempt”

According to BBC Türkçe, which covered an interview with the soldiers in The Times newspaper, the soldiers had said earlier today (September 21) that they had known nothing about the coup attempt during the mission on which they had been sent at the time.  

One soldier, declining to his name for fear of retaliation against his family in Turkey, said “We are not criminals. We shouldn’t be treated as such”. (YY/DG)