Turkey threatens to cancel migrant deal with EU
ASTANA. KAZINFORM Turkey has threatened to cancel a bilateral migration deal with Greece, Kazinform learnt from bbc.com.
The threat comes as a reaction to a decision by the Greek Supreme Court not to extradite eight Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece after a failed coup in July 2016,
On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey is considering to cancel the deal under which migrants who arrive illegally in Greece, forwarded to Turkey.
On Thursday, Greek Supreme Court said it will not extradite eight Turkish soldiers who arrived in the country last July, immediately after the coup attempt in Turkey failed.
The military insisted that they had no relation to the coup, and believe that their lives may be in danger if returned to Turkey.
Turkish authorities demand soldiers return so that they could be brought to justice. Turkish police arrested several thousand people after a failed coup attempt.
Turkey called the decision of Greek Supreme Court is politically motivated. Turkish authorities have accused Greece of unwillingness to fight terrorism.
Last spring, EU and Turkey signed a migration deal under which Turkey takes back migrants who cross into Greece if they do not apply for asylum or their claim is rejected.
Deportations of migrants started last year and it helped to mitigate the migration crisis in Europe.