UPDATE- Turkey demands 8 coup soldiers' extradition from Greece

Turkey demands extradition of pro-coup soldiers, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says

UPDATES WITH GREEK MILITARY STATEMENT, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Handan Kazanci

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Saturday demanded the extradition of eight military officers who fled to Greece following the failed coup.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted that Turkey had “requested the immediate surrender of the eight traitor soldiers who fled to Greece with a helicopter”.

Greek police said the helicopter landed at Alexandroupoli airport, which lies close to the Greek-Turkish border, at around 11.50 a.m. local time (0850GMT). The eight occupants were arrested and claimed political asylum.

In a statement, the Greek General Staff said the Black Hawk helicopter would be returned to Turkey immediately.

“The responsible authorities for asylum will examine the helicopter passengers' request for political asylum in Greece,” the statement added.

* Magda Panoutsopoulou contributed to this report from Athens.

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