Turkey warns Greece over soldiers

Athens: Turkey’s ambassador to Athens said on Tuesday that not extraditing the eight Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece after a failed military coup on the weekend would not help bilateral relations between the two neighbours.

Relations between the Nato allies have warmed in recent years but they have a long history of enmity and a long-standing dispute over territorial borders in the Aegean, with warplanes from both sides regularly engaging in mock dogfights.

Territorial disputes almost provoked a war between Greece and Turkey in 1996 over tiny uninhabited islets.

The soldiers have requested political asylum in Greece and the Greek government has told Ankara the process will be swift but stick strictly to international law and human rights treaties.