Turkish, Greek foreign ministers discuss consulate-related matters

ANKARA

Turkish and Greek foreign ministers spoke over the phone on Tuesday, according to diplomatic sources.

Mevlut Cavusoglu and Nikos Dendias addressed consulate-related matters, as the top diplomats also discussed the extradition of a Greek citizen detained in Türkiye.

Dendias, for his part, said on Twitter that Cavusoglu informed him "on the positive outcome" of Athens’ request for the extradition to Greece of a Greek citizen, father of one of the victims of the accident in Tempi."

"I thanked my counterpart for Türkiye's positive & rapid response. The decision was signed by Türkiye’s Minister of Justice," he added.

Türkiye has announced that it will allow the transfer of the father of a Greek machinist who died in the Feb. 28 train accident, in line with a request to Turkish authorities.

The decision came after a petition by Dimitris Nalbantis, the father of machinist Nikos Nalbantis, for his transfer to a Greek prison was received by the Turkish Justice Ministry and forwarded to its counterpart in the neighboring nation.

Nalbantis is serving a sentence for narcotics-related offenses at a facility in Türkiye's northwestern Tekirdag province.

On Feb. 28, a passenger train collided with a freight train around the town of Tempi in the northern Larissa province of Greece.

The official death toll stands at 57, including many university students and nine traincrew members.