Turkish-Greek tension might endanger EU migrant deal

The decision of the Supreme Court of Greece on Jan. 26 that rejected Turkey's demand of the extradition of eight Turkish soldiers, who escaped to Greece on July 16, 2016 right after participating in the foiled coup attempt, will most likely start a new era of tension between Ankara and Athens. 

Turkey has taken two important steps right after the court's verdict was announced. First, the Justice Ministry sent a second extradition request to Greece regarding the soldiers and second, the Foreign Ministry urged Greece that Turkey's reaction will be very harsh and will include all fields of bilateral relationship, including the Readmission Agreement, to be cancelled. 

So, on the one hand, Ankara will continue to force Athens to find a way to reverse this judicial peril by renewing its demand, and on the other hand it is trying to show that its political consequences will be dire for Greece.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Jan. 27 that Ankara would take the "necessary steps, including possible annulment of the bilateral readmission agreement," in response to the Greek court's decision.

There are a number of reasons why Ankara feels so much anger about this verdict. The first is because these soldiers are not ordinary people seeking political asylum in a third-party country. They are seriously being accused of taking part in the country's bloodiest coup attempt and of escaping to Greece in their military uniforms with a military helicopter. So, the Greek judicial move is interpreted that they are being protected by a neighboring NATO partner. 

Secondly, as Çavuşoğlu puts it, this decision is considered to be a politically driven one and not purely a judicial one.  "We have given all necessary evidence and documents to...