Two of the eight Turkish commandos who sought asylum in Greece have reportedly gone missing from police custody and may already be in the hands of Turkey, their lawyer told The Times yesterday.
Halit Cetin and Fatih Arik sought refuge in Greece following the failed coup against the Turkish President back in July 2016.
The officers’ unit, the SAT special operations force led botched attempt to overthrow the government and according to the administration’s allegations the men were implicated.
The group of eight who have been dubbed “public enemy No 1” by the Turkish authorities spent 18 months in detention for illegally entering Greece and following a series of trials they were granted asylum this year.
“I went to collect them and they were gone,” Stavroula Tomara, their lawyer, told Greek national TV, announcing that the men went missing on 20 August.
“I seriously doubt the two commandos are in Greece any more. They have either been bundled up and taken to a third country or deported back to Turkey.
“No one has the authority to transfer my clients to any secret location. They should have walked free,” she added alleging that the men may have been exchanged for two Greek soldiers who were returned on 15 August after being held in a high security prison in Turkey after mistakenly crossing the border. Three more of the eight men were also taken under unclear circumstances.
“The day [the three other soldiers] were arrested and requested political asylum they were taken to a local hotel,” she said explaining that the whereabouts of the otherTurkish officers are unknown since they were moved from a military camp in Agios Andreas due to the wildfires last month.
“They were served dinner and as they were eating, a team of hooded Greek commandos burst into their room, strapped them and returned them back to Turkey.”
The police refused to comment on Ms Tomara’s allegations, while spokesman Theodore Chronopoulos, insisted that Mr Cetin’s and Mr Arik’s release order came through last week but the two men “were immediately taken to a secret location following a separate request they had made to the authorities for their protection”.
