Turkey suspends migrant deal with Greece, says Cavusoglu

Turkey has suspended a migrant readmission deal it had signed with Greece in response to a Greek court ruling that refused to extradite the eight Turkish soldiers who fled to the country after the failed coup in 2016, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday, according to reports in Daily Sabah and Reuters.

Speaking in an event with local journalists in Antalya, the minister reportedly said the Greek government sincerely wants to solve this issue but there is significant pressure from the West, especially to Greek judges, not to extradite the servicemen, Daily Sabah reported.

"There is a migrant deal with the EU, This is being implemented. There is also a bilateral readmission deal with Greece. Now we have suspended this readmission deal. We will continue our work towards Greece after the final court decision," Cavusoglu said.

On Monday, the four soldiers were released after an order extending their custody expired. A decision on their asylum applications is still pending.