Erdogan invited to visit Greece

Turkey has expressed regret that Greece is not extraditing 8 Turkish military personnel who received political asylum following the failure of a July 15th 2016 coup.

Unfortunately, Greek courts have not extradited them, and this has disappointed us a lot of”, Turkish Foreign Minister Mesut Cavushoglu said. He added that two other Turkish soldiers, charged with wanting to kill President Erdogan on the night of the coup, have also fled to Greece and that Ankara demands that they too be extradited.

Cavushoglu, who met in Ankara with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Kotzias, has also declared that Greece should not become a housing base for Gylenist Movement activists.

According to him, there are currently 995 people in Greece who have sought political asylum after the coup attempt.

Meanwhile, the Greek Foreign Minister has responded that asylum-giving decisions are taken by justice and should be respected, even when they are disappointing”.

During their meeting in Ankara, the diplomatic chiefs of Turkey and Greece have once again found that there are pronounced dyvergences and problems between the two sides, but there is also a positive agenda, which is promoted in each case.

They have agreed to develop the fifth support of the Supreme Co-operation Council, to be held in Thessaloniki in February 2018.

Later, Kotzias was received by President Recep Taypp Erdogan, who handed him the invitation to pay an official visit to Greece.

The Greek republic's “President Prokopis Pavlopoulos expects it with friendship and great joy”, Kotzias said.

Meanwhile, the Greek social network has negatively commented on the lack of a Greek flag during the reception the Turkish president reserved for the foreign minister. According to commentators, this conflicts with international protocol.