Coup d'état

The number of pending Turkish asylum applications to EU countries has exceeded 17,000 following the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, hitting a record high for the country since the 1980 military coup.

The spokesman for Turkey's ruling AKP party has condemned Greece's courts for siding with "Turkey's enemies and coup plotters," after Greece's supreme administrate court published a decision giving one of the men asylum status.

Germany has issued a search warrant for Adil Öksüz, a key figure linked to the July 2016 coup attempt whose whereabouts have been unknown since the attempted putsch, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on June 13.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry has reacted angrily to news Monday that the last four Turkish servicemen of the eight who fled to Greece after the coup attempt in 2016 were released after the 18 months of maximum detention expired, with a spokesman accusing Athens of becoming "a refuge for coup plotters."

Adil Öksüz, a key suspect sought for his role in the July 2016 coup attempt, is being sought by German authorities, according to a report in the German media. 

Ankara on Monday repeated its call for the extradition of eight Turkish servicemen who fled to Greece after the failed coup in 2016, despite Athens's efforts not to include the issue in the list of bilateral differences dividing the two countries.

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said early Dec. 27 that a new emergency decree granting immunity to civilians fighting against coup attempts only applied to those who took part in thwarting the July 15, 2016, coup attempt.

The same thing happens at every hearing in the ongoing trials on Turkey's July 2016 coup attempt: While the hearing is continuing, someone in the audience in the section reserved for the families of those killed or injured stands up and starts shouting.

The Constitutional Court on Aug. 4 stated that it has rejected a total of 70,771 applications over cases related to the state of emergency, saying domestic legal remedies had not yet been exhausted by the applicants.   

Turkey on Wednesday replaced the commanders of its army, air force and navy after their terms in office expired, reshuffling the top of a military that has been shaken by last year’s failed coup.