“There is no intervention in the judiciary,” declared state minister and government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, in reference to Ankara’s demands for the extradition of eight Turkish officers, allegedly implicated in the 15 July, 2016 abortive military coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Tzanakopoulous said that the final judge of the asylum applications will be the Greek judiciary.
The remarks came after a barrage of criticism of the government’s petition to annul a judicial decision granting asylum in Greece to one of the eight officers.

He said that the ruling of Greece’s Supreme Court, the Areios Pagos, which blocked Ankara’s extradition demands, remains fully in effect.

The spokesman said that the reason the extraditions were blocked was the administrative court’s belief that the accused would not receive a fair trial in Turkey.

“The extradition of the eight is not about to happen, and it is forbidden, regardless of the outcome of their asylum applications,” Tzanakopoulos said.

“We have at the moment the decision of an appellate-level asylum committee, which overturned the ruling of a lower-level asylum committee, granting asylum to one of the eight,” the spokesman said.

He said that due to the delicate legal issues involved, the government considered that the case should be adjudicated at the highest possible level, which is the appellate administrative court, which will rule on the government’s petition. “There is nothing hidden or dark about this,” he said.

in.gr

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