Greece jails fleeing Turks
Call for return of military personnel who escaped during failed coup bid
A GREEK court has sentenced eight Turkish military personnel who fled over the border on a helicopter during the attempted coup in their country.
All eight – six pilots and two engineers – were jailed for two months on charges of illegal entry into Greece, with the recognition of mitigating circumstances of having acted while under threat.
The pilot of the helicopter was acquitted of an additional charge of violating flight regulations, and the other seven of being accomplices in the violation.
The sentence was suspended for three years, but they are being held in custody pending resolution of their asylum applications.
Turkey has demanded their return to stand trial for participation in last week’s coup attempt. The eight deny involvement and have applied for asylum, saying they fear for their safety amid widespread purges in Turkey in the aftermath of the attempted overthrow of the government.
Their asylum applications are being examined, and they will appear before immigration authorities next week for the second time for interviews.
The eight landed at the airport of the north-eastern Greek city of Alexandroupolis early on Saturday in a Black Hawk helicopter after issuing a mayday signal and requesting permission for an emergency landing, which was granted.
During yesterday’s court proceedings, all testified that they were crew members of three helicopters and had been unaware that a coup attempt was under way.
They said they landed at a military base near a hospital and came under fire again, and were told by their unit not to return to their home base because the situation was too dangerous. After heading to another location, the personnel decided to flee for their lives in one helicopter, they said.
Meanwhile, the Turkish government has announced plans to suspend human rights laws as it prepared to implement the country’s new state of emergency following the failed coup.
The nation’s parliament was set to approve the three-month state of emergency announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday night.
Ahead of the vote, deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus said Turkey would suspend the European Human Rights Convention in line with an article contained within the agreement allowing for it in time of emergencies.
In an address to the nation, Mr Erdogan announced a cabinet decision to seek extra powers, saying the state of emergency would give the government the tools to rid the military of the “virus” of subversion.
Under the terms of the Turkish constitution, members of the 550-seat parliament have to approve a request for a state of emergency.
Of those, 317 are members of Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party.
The state of emergency would give the government sweeping powers to expand a crackdown that has seen nearly 10,000 people arrested, hundreds of schools closed and nearly 60,000 civil service employees dismissed.
IT’S most likely an apocryphal remark but Lenin is once supposed to have said: “There are decades where nothing happens, and weeks where decades happen.” The last few weeks have felt a bit like that. Over the past month there has been Brexit, the long-awaited release of the Chilcot Report, the Nice terror attack, Donald Trump’s official nomination as Republican presidential candidate and the attempted coup in Turkey.
On hearing the news about Turkey, I like many other foreign affairs observers, couldn’t help thinking that if the coup were to succeed it would probably be one of the most profound international stories for decades.
The military takeover failed, of course, but I still believe the events unfolding in Turkey have a long way to go yet and their implications remain potentially seismic.
Time and again over the last week I’ve read or heard observations made that there are “no goodies” in the events that occurred in Turkey or that the coup was more “beer hall putsch than geopolitical earthquake”. Both these assessments I firmly believe to be wrong.
In Turkey itself there may be a sense of relief among many people that the coup crumbled and a military junta was avoided. But there is a sinister side to the reality most Turks have woken up to as President Erdogan’s purge of suspected opponents gains momentum.
With a three-month state of emergency declared and almost 60,000 public employees arrested or fired, the way ahead looks ominous. These purges are now moving with such speed that human rights groups say laws and due process are being flagrantly bypassed.
To claim there are “no goodies” in the recent events in Turkey is to dismiss the countless ordinary Turks for whom neither Mr Erdogan’s autocratic rule nor that of a military junta is acceptable.
This is a country still collectively traumatised by past military interventions. While many took to the streets to stop the tanks, not all did so relishing the idea Mr Erdogan would stay in power.
These sceptics and detractors knew instinctively the man many refer to as The Sultan, would simply have the perfect opportunity to wield an even bigger stick. To that end their fears have so far proved correct.
Many caught up in these purges will have only the remotest connection to the threat Mr Erdogan perceives. As for the president’s own hard-core supporters there is at times an almost cult-like devotion to this former food stallholder and semi-professional footballer turned political leader. Others who lend their allegiance to his Justice and Development Party (AKP) do so simply because of its record on economic growth and relative stability after decades of turbulence.
On my numerous visits to Turkey over the last few years, it’s been difficult not to be impressed by the visible outward signs of the country’s economic energy. Some have gone as far as to say that in many ways Turkey’s 78 million people have never had it so good.
The inescapable fact is that since the 1990s the proportion of those living below the official poverty line has declined from the teens to low single digits.
This, of course, has come at some considerable political cost, as Mr Erdogan has cannily and ruthlessly consolidated his grip on power. It might even be fair to say that for some time now Turkey has already been undergoing a slow motion coup, not by the military but by Mr Erdogan himself.
In the near future, however, he might find it more difficult to point to his government’s economic achievements as reason to support him.
This is a country that relies heavily on foreign capital and if it was finding it increasingly difficult to attract money from abroad before the coup attempt, then Mr Erdogan’s latest backlash will do little to steady the nerves of potential investors.
Certainly at face value, the coup attempt did resemble a desperate lastditch and cack-handed beer hall putsch. This, after all, is a military that’s meant to know a thing or two about coups.
The beginners’ guide manual on coups, had it existed, would have made it clear that arresting the head of state and head of government and shutting down and controlling the major means of communication were the baby steps in such a takeover. That it happened the way it did tells us much about the pressure building on the coup plotters and their impetuous and reckless course of action.
It would be foolish, however, to think the tragi-comic nature of last Friday night’s events diminishes the ramifications inside Turkey and the potential fallout on the regional and international diplomatic stage.
It’s been fascinating to see the likes of the US, EU and Britain caught on the hop, reduced to a watching and waiting role. Given the seriousness of the coup attempt, its aftermath and its wider significance, there has been a conspicuous degree of reticence.
It’s almost as if there is a collective holding of diplomatic breath while behind the scenes a mad rush ensues to work out contingency plans. And what contingency plans they must be. As it has done throughout its history, Turkey remains that crucial political turntable between East and West.
Not only is it a G20 economy in a very unpredictable part of the world, but like it or not it remains in a pivotal position in terms of the West’s war against the Islamic State (IS) group.
Nato, of which Turkey is a prominent member, is also conscious of its role in terms of countering Moscow’s influence in Syria and across the Black Sea.
Let’s not forget either the refugee crisis in which Turkey has taken on the responsibility of providing sanctuary for many Syrians, while at the same time playing diplomatic hard ball over the issue. Disruptive events in one place can trigger others in a variety of ways, even at a great distance. Turkey is one such source.
If there was anything positive from the events of last week it was the brief glimpse of a willingness by ordinary Turks to stand up for democratic values despite Mr Erdogan’s previous crackdown and the political polarisation of the country.
If Turkey’s coup attempt was deeply worrying at the time, its aftermath is arguably just as disconcerting, not least on the level of human rights abuses.
Given the current instability, any appeal to Mr Erdogan to stay his hand in this respect will be a challenge, but that should not deter attempts do so with the utmost diplomatic vigour and conviction.
Barely half way through 2016, the world is reeling from the events that have unfolded this year. What happens in Turkey matters hugely. It would not be an exaggeration to say that what the future holds for the country will impact on us all here in Europe and beyond – for better or for worse.
‘‘ For some time now Turkey has been undergoing a slow motion coup, not by the military but by Mr Erdogan himself