Three more Turkish commandos have allegedly fled to Greece but went missing in the country they were supposed to seek asylum. According to a local lawyer, the three entered Greece together with the two commandos who sought asylum in Greece in February. However, once they entered the country, the group split and ever since there is no sign of the three, who allegedly headed for Thessaloniki, the second biggest city of the country. The other two surrended to police station of Orestiada, were arrested and applied for political asylum.
The five have illegally entered Greece on Feb 15th throught the Evros river, the natural border between the two countries in the North.
The lawyer of the two spoke to Greek media and said that claimed that the three went missing and there were indications that they have been arrested by Greek authorities who were about to expel them to Turkey.
Citing “sources”, lawyer Stavroula Tomaras told newspaper To Vima that several hours after they disappeared, the sign of the mobile phone of one of the three was located in Athens. However they was no other sign from them ever after.
To Vima publishes the pictures and the names of the 3+2 Turkish commandos.
A couple of weeks after the failed coup in July 2016, Turkey submitted to Interpol a long list of suspects on its Wanted List. Halit Cetin and Fatih Arik are the two commandos currently in custody. Ahmet Camoglu, Yucel Ozcan and Mustafa Ozel are allegedly the three missing commandos. They are aged 35-45. According to Ankara, they are suspected ‘coup plotters’ and were involved in a team assigned with the assassination of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who was in a holiday resort on the coup night.
Speaking to CNN Greece, lawyer Tomaras said that the three commandos belonged to a different unit but they arrived all together in Greece.
The lawyer complained that she had no regular contact with her clients – the two currently in custody- and that she expressed concerned about their lives as well as the lives of the three who allegedly went missing. There are fears that they three may have been sent back to Turkey in the process of so-called “administrative deportation.”
Speaking to CNN, sources from the Ministry of Public Order said authorities had no idea about three more Turkish commandos.
More than 100 Turkish citizens have sought asylum in Greece since summer 2016 in order to escape Erdogan’s purge. Among the asylum seekers is also military personnel.
The decision of the Greek Supreme Court to reject extradition of the 8 Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece with a stolen Black Hawk helicopter led a series of provocative actions by Turkey.
