Turkey issues new extradition request for officers in Greece

Turkey's justice ministry has made a new extradition request after Greece's Supreme Court ruled against sending back eight Turkish servicemen who fled their country by helicopter after a coup attempt.

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported today that the justice ministry had sent a second extradition request for the eight Turkish officers.

Greece's Supreme Court yesterday rejected Ankara's first request on the basis that the servicemen were unlikely to face a fair trial if returned to Turkey.

Lower courts had issued mixed decisions on the return of the officers in a series of separate hearings.

The extradition case has soured complicated ties between neighbours and NATO allies Greece and Turkey, which remain at odds over war-divided Cyprus and boundaries in the Aegean Sea.