Athens: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Saturday demanded the release of two soldiers jailed in Turkey, arguing that they should not be “pawns to blackmail.”
“Human life and human freedom are not, and should not be, pawns to power games and blackmail,” Tsipras said in a statement to Documento newspaper.
Turkey is holding in pre-trial detention two Greek soldiers who crossed the border on March 2, claiming to have lost their way in the fog.
Greece had hoped to secure their release before Sunday’s Orthodox Easter celebration.
Turkish media have reported that the pair, held in the northern Turkish province of Edirne, have been charged with espionage.
But Athens contends that Turkish authorities have not given adequate details of the charges and on what evidence they are based.
According to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, the soldiers have been charged with “attempted military espionage” as well as entering a forbidden military zone.
The issue has strained an already tense relationship between the two NATO allies and regional rivals.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and members of his government have escalated attacks on Greece after its failure to extradite eight Turkish soldiers that Ankara said were part of an attempted 2016 coup.
The Greek Supreme Court has conclusively blocked the extradition of the eight Turkish soldiers, arguing that they would not have a fair trial in their home country amid an ongoing purge of suspected Erdogan opponents.
Additionally, Ankara and Athens are at loggerheads over the exploration of gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.
Tsipras earlier this week called on the Turkish judiciary to “speed up” its processing of the case.
“In the past, we returned Turkish soldiers who crossed a few meters into Greece whilst on patrol. I expect the Turkish president to do the same,” he said.
Greek PM: Soldiers jailed in Turkey should not be pawns to blackmail
Greek PM: Soldiers jailed in Turkey should not be pawns to blackmail
- Turkey is holding two Greek soldiers in pre-trial detention. They crossed the border on March 2, claiming to have lost their way in the fog.
- According to Turkish media reports, the soldiers who were held in the northern Turkish province of Edirne, have been charged with espionage.
Archbishop of York says he was ‘intimidated’ by Israeli militias during West Bank visit
- “We were … intimidated by Israeli militias who told us that we couldn’t visit Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank,” the archbishop said
LONDON: The Archbishop of York has revealed that he felt “intimidated” by Israeli militias during a visit to the Holy Land this year.
“We were stopped at various checkpoints and intimidated by Israeli militias who told us that we couldn’t visit Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank,” the Rev. Stephen Cottrell told his Christmas Day congregation at York Minster.
The archbishop added: “We have become — and really, I can think of no other way of putting it — we have become fearful of each other, and especially fearful of strangers, or just people who aren’t quite like us.
“We don’t seem to be able to see ourselves in them, and therefore we spurn our common humanity.”
He recounted how YMCA charity representatives in Bethlehem, who work with persecuted Palestinian communities in the West Bank, gave him an olive wood Nativity scene carving.
The carving depicted a “large gray wall” blocking the three kings from getting to the stable to see Mary, Joseph and Jesus, he said.
He said it was sobering for him to see the wall in real life during his visit.
He continued: “But this Christmas morning here in York, as well as thinking about the walls that divide and separate the Holy Land, I’m also thinking of all the walls and barriers we erect across the whole of the world and, perhaps most alarming, the ones we build around ourselves, the ones we construct in our hearts and minds, and of how our fearful shielding of ourselves from strangers — the strangers we encounter in the homeless on our streets, refugees seeking asylum, young people starved of opportunity and growing up without hope for the future — means that we are in danger of failing to welcome Christ when he comes.”
