Turkish helicopter in Greece, 8 crew members nabbed

A Turkish military helicopter carrying eight men has landed in northeastern Greece, with its crew seeking political asylum after a putsch attempt in Turkey, Greek officials say.

The Black Hawk helicopter landed in an airport in Alexandroupoli, located in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, at midday on Saturday, after sending a distress call to authorities at the airport, Greece’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

According to the Greek ERT TV, the passengers, seven of them in military uniforms, are believed to be among those who orchestrated the attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Friday night.

The seven men had reportedly removed their badges and insignia from the uniforms to make it impossible to know their rank, but Athens News Agency reported that the asylum seekers comprised majors, captains and sergeant majors, and a civilian.

All the crew, however, were detained by Greek security police upon their landing on charges of illegal entry into the country. According to the Greek government spokeswoman, Olga Gerovassili, “as far as the asylum seekers are concerned, we are going to proceed according to the international law.”

She added that Athens was in “constant” contact with Turkish authorities and would consider the fact that the detained crew “took part in a coup against the Turkish constitution.”

“The helicopter is scheduled to be sent back immediately to Turkey,” AFP quoted an unnamed official in the Greek National Defense General Staff as saying.

Reports say Greece is to examine political asylum requests of the crew.

Earlier in the day, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed his “support for the democratically elected” Turkish government.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara had requested Athens to return the eight people.

SS