Yildirim digs at Tsipras over 8 Turkish servicemen, suggests link to case of Greek soldiers
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Monday reproached his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras for not mentioning the issue of the eight Turkish servicemen whose extradition Ankara has sought and appeared to link the case to that of two Greek soldiers being detained in Turkey.
Yildirim claimed that Greece has become a "haven" for coup-plotters, Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported.
"Why doesn't he talk about this?" Yildirim was quoted as saying. "They carried out a coup in Turkey. They killed people and harmed the country."
"Now they are being tried," he said, referring to two Greek soldiers who strayed over the border last month, adding that Turkey's judicial system "will do what it must."
On Sunday, Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag stated outright that the cases of the eight Turks and two Greeks are unrelated.
"There is no question of an exchange of the two Greek soldiers," he said. "We have said this many times. One issue is very different from the other."
