Defense Minister Panos Kammenos suddenly upgraded the arrest of the two Greek soldiers and described them as “hostages in Turkish prisons.” The soldiers were arrested last week for illegally crossing the borders. Kammenos’ statement is in full contradiction with those made by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday.
Tsipras’ junior coalition partner and leader of Independent Greeks(ANEL), Kammenos dropped his bombshell in a statement uploaded on the website of the Greek Defense Ministry on Friday noon.
“I informed the Romanian Defense Minister about the incident that is currently taking place with Turkey. At the moment, we have two Greek hostages in Turkish prisons, an Officer and a Non-Officer. I request the support of the Romanian Minister of Defense for the immediate release of these NATO, European and Greek military personnel,” the statement about Kammenos visit to Romania said among others.
Speaking at the Palriament on Thursday, Tsipras had called for composure and patience in the face of Turkish Provocations. He described the Greek soldiers’ arrest as a “usual border incident” and said he did not want to upgrade it into “a major diplomatic issue.”
The Greek soldiers remain for the 8th day in custody in high security prison in Edirne, North-West Turkey, while the prosecutor has not completed investigation for the case file yet. Their confiscated mobile phones have been reportedly sent to Ankara for further investigation as Turkish authorities allegedly investigate also whether the two Greek soldiers entered the restricted military zone on purpose.
The soldiers were on patrol when they reportedly walked 254 meter inside Turkey after losing their way due to bad weather conditions.
Such incidents are common in the land borders between the two countries, they are normally solved in very short time between the local military commanders and without arrests.
One scenario has been claiming that Ankara sent the Greek soldiers in prison in order to press confessions or even ‘exchange’ with the 8 Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece right after the failed coup of 2016.