A request for the extradition of eight Turkish servicemen has been denied by Greece. For six months these men have been fighting a legal battle against extradition after fleeing Turkey in a failed coup attempt. The men argue that if they are returned to Turkey then they will face mistreatment and an unfair court case.
I'm not exactly sure which side to be on, and if you aren't sure either than I will just put the facts down and let you decide with me.
It is very hard to stage a coup when the government is good, but it has happened before. One of the better examples that we know is Amlici in the Book of Mormon. The government was perfectly good and stable but Amlici came up and said that he wanted to be a king. The people didn't want him to be king, so he made an army and attempted a coup. The coup failed and the government could chase him down because he had defied the vote of the people.
On the other side, that was one of the few times that a coup was attempted when the government was good. If the government is corrupted then I can see a coup as as one of the choices of change. It is definitely not a good choice though, not a single coup has resulted in a better government, but the people think that a coup is their only option to free themselves of an oppressive leader.
This is where I am torn. I don't exactly know Turkeys form of government so I don't know if they should face extradition or not. If the government had no need for change then they probably should face extradition for making an uprising. Coups aren't exactly the best way to fix the government, but if they had no choice then maybe this court ruling is appropriate.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=235&sid=42990897&title=greek-court-rejects-extradition-for-turkish-servicemen
This is a tough one because obviously, by any country's definition, these people have committed treason. However, Turkey's president is actually a pretty nasty piece of work, so many people on the outside feel like the coup attempt was well justified. If I were Greece, I'd probably make this call as well. On paper Turkey has a fairly representative government, but it's not playing out that way in real life.
ReplyDeleteNice to know. This is one of those things where all you can do is ask for others ideas on the subject and compare them to your own. This input really helps.
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