Turkey’s foreign ministry has rejected claims by Greece’s defense minister that the two Greek soldiers currently in jail in Edirne were taken on the orders of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Second Lieutenant Angelos Mitroudis and Sergeant Dimitris Kouklatzis have been held in a Turkish jail since early March when they mistakenly crossed the Turkish border in poor weather at the Evros river.
Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told Real FM on Wednesday he did not think their arrest was a “random act” and suggested the Turkish side used bad weather at the time as an opportunity to seize the two men.
In a statement on Friday, Ankara linked the two men’s case with that of the eight former Turkish soldiers seeking asylum in Greece and said the claim was “the latest example of irresponsible and unserious conducts of this person [Kammenos]”.
“Necessary information about both the arrest of the two Greek soldiers and the relevant judicial process of the two Greek soldiers has already been given to the Greek side.
“Despite this fact, it is being understood that Greece, which has not met our legitimate and lawful requests about the perpetrators of the treacherous coup attempt of July 15th, who are still staying in its territory, spares no effort to divert the attention of the public opinion elsewhere by constantly trying to remain on the agenda with unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations.”
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