A third motion filed by attorneys representing two Greek soldiers, being held in pre-trial detention in a Turkish border city, has been rejected, according to media reports on Wednesday.
The two men, a lieutenant and a NCO, have been held for 55 days in an Edirne prison on preliminary charges of entering a restricted military zone in Turkey.
The pair allegedly strayed into Turkish territory on March 1 along a poorly demarcated spot along a stretch of the Greek-Turkish land border. Most of the frontier separating the two countries in the Thrace province is delineated by the Evros (Maritsa) River.
The preliminary nature of the charge against the men, and the reason cited for their incarceration, has still not yielded a specific indictment, nor has a court date been set.
The incident has acquired international dimensions, with top European leaders broaching the matter with Turkish leadership and with the European Parliament issuing a resolution demanding the case be quickly resolved.
Greek political leadership, both the government and the opposition, also flatly reject any attempt to link the two men’s fate with Ankara demand for the extradition of eight Turkish military personnel it claims participated in a July 2016 in the neighboring country and then fled to Greece. The Eight Turks have filed for political asylum.
