ANKARA: A Turkish court on Friday placed two Greek soldiers under arrest on espionage charges after they illegally crossed into Turkey, state media reported, in a move that risks a new flaring of tensions between Ankara and Athens.
Athens said they had lost their way while patrolling the border on Greece’s northeastern edge and entered into Turkey by mistake.
But the Turkish court in the western province of Edirne ordered the pair be charged with “attempted military espionage” and “entering forbidden military territory,” state news agency Anadolu said.
The soldiers had been held by authorities after they entered Turkey, claiming they got lost because of the weather conditions.
But according to Anadolu, the two men said in statements to the prosecutor that they took images on their mobile telephones to send to senior Greek military officials.
The Greek army earlier said the two soldiers had lost their way in poor weather while patrolling the area around the Evros river that separates the two countries.
“There was no fighting and (the soldiers) are currently in Edirne,” Greek military command spokesman Nikolaos Fanios said, adding the pair were in good health.
The Edirne gendarmerie command seized the men’s rifles, Anadolu reported.
Greek government spokesperson Dimitris Tzanakopoulos earlier said that the case was one of “illegal entry” and said Athens expected the “imminent return” of the two Greek officers.
The two soldiers were remanded in custody which means they are to stay in prison ahead of trial, a date for which has yet to be set.
Turkey and Greece are historic foes whose peoples have for centuries battled for supremacy in the Aegean region, and over the last decades they have come to the brink of war on several occasions.
But they have also been allies in NATO since 1952 and Athens has over the last years been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Ankara’s bid to join the EU.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in December made the first visit by a Turkish head of state to Greece in 65 years in a symbol of more cordial ties.
However, the visit was overshadowed by a broadside by Erdogan in front of Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos as he called for the revision of the post World War I treaty that set Greece and Turkey’s modern borders.
Meanwhile, Turkish and Greek vessels have in the last weeks twice collided off Aegean islets that have been a historic flashpoint in a long-running demarcation dispute.
Another festering sore is Cyprus, where the northern portion of the island is still occupied by Turkish troops following the 1974 invasion in response to an Athens-inspired coup aimed at uniting it with Greece.
Tensions over Cyprus are high as Turkey vows to block any moves by the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government to exploit oil reserves off the Mediterranean island.
But of most immediate concern to Ankara is the presence in Greece of suspects wanted by Turkey on charges linked to the 2016 failed coup.
The Athens authorities have notably failed to hand over eight Turkish troops who escaped by helicopter on the night of the putsch, saying they would not have a fair trial at home.
Turkey arrests two Greek soldiers ‘on espionage charges’
Turkey arrests two Greek soldiers ‘on espionage charges’
UK condemns drone strikes across Sudan and blocking of aid as famine continues to rage
- Drone attacks by Rapid Support Forces include strike on humanitarian convoy that killed aid worker, and another in North Kordofan that killed 24 people, including 8 children
- Famine conditions reported in Darfur towns of Um Baru and Kernoi; British ambassador calls this a ‘devastating indictment’ of how warring factions ‘continue to block life-saving aid’
NEW YORK CITY: The UK on Friday condemned drone strikes by the Rapid Support Forces, one of the warring military factions in Sudan, and accused the group and its rival, the Sudanese Armed Forces, of blocking life-saving aid while parts of Sudan’s Darfur region descend into famine.
Speaking ahead of a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in Sudan, requested by Britain, Bahrain and Denmark, the UK’s deputy ambassador, James Kariuki, told reporters that the latest alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned of famine conditions in the Darfur towns of Um Baru and Kernoi.
“This is a devastating indictment of how the SAF and RSF continue to block life-saving aid,” he added.
The ways in which they are doing this include blocking trade routes, disrupting supply chains and restricting humanitarian access, Kariuki said. Such actions are deliberately exacerbating the crisis, he warned, and constitute violations of international humanitarian law under UN Security Council Resolution 2417.
“Starvation must never be used as a weapon of war,” he added.
More than 33 million people across the country are now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, Kariuki said, making the humanitarian crisis in Sudan the worst in the world.
The UK also condemned recent RSF drone strikes across the country, including a reported attack on a World Food Programme convoy on Friday that killed an aid worker. Another RSF drone strike in North Kordofan had killed 24 people, including eight children, Kariuki said.
“Humanitarian workers must be able to deliver the response on the ground without obstruction and without retaliation,” he told the Security Council.
The civil war in Sudan began in April 2023 when fighting erupted between the SAF, led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary RSF, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.
Kariuki said authorities in the UK had imposed fresh sanctions last Thursday targeting six individuals suspected of committing atrocities or fueling the conflict in Sudan by supplying mercenaries and military equipment.
“These sanctions send a clear message that all those who perpetrate or profit from the brutal violence in Sudan will be held accountable, no matter how long it takes,” he added.
