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Europe
Greek President Rejects Soldier Swap with Turkey
2018-04-23
[AnNahar] Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Sunday rejected the suggestion of a swap deal involving two Greek soldiers placed in durance vile
You have the right to remain silent...
in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
in exchange for Ottoman Turkish soldiers wanted by Ankara over the 2016 failed coup.

Pavlopoulos ruled out the potential swap after Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
on Saturday said his government would consider the Greek soldiers' case if Athens extradited the Ottoman Turkish soldiers.

"The exchange of the two Greek soldiers that are placed in durance vile
You have the right to remain silent...
with the eight Ottoman Turkish soldiers that are in Greece is out of the question", said Pavlopoulos.

The two Greek soldiers were charged with espionage in Turkey after crossing over the border on March 2. They claim to have lost their way in the fog.

The eight Ottoman Turkish soldiers fled their homecountry to Greece after the failed 2016 coup.

Greece's Supreme Court has ruled that the men will not be extradited, despite Ottoman Turkish demands for them to face charges at home. The men deny involvement in the coup attempt.

"They (Greece) ask us to give back the Greek soldiers and we told them 'if you make such a demand, you should first give us FETO soldiers involved in a coup against our state'," Erdogan told the private NTV television in an interview on Saturday.

"If they are handed to us, we will consider" the situation on Greek soldiers, Erdogan said.

FETO is the name Ankara uses for the movement led by Moslem preacher Fethullah Gülen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
, who Turkey blames for criminal masterminding the coup attempt. Gulen, based in the US state of Pennyslvania, denies the accusations.

"When I spoke about a hostage situation of the Greek soldiers I was mocked. Sadly, I am confirmed by this proposal of exchange", the Greek Defense Minister, Panos Kammenos said on Saturday, commenting on Erdogan's interview.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras earlier this month demanded the release of the two soldiers, arguing that they should not be "pawns to blackmail."
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