Turkey cautions Greece against releasing 17N terrorists

ANKARA

Turkey has said it will monitor developments in the aftermath of a new Greek law that may allow members of a terrorist group involved in the assassination of Turkish diplomats in 1990s to come out of jail in Athens.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic said in a statement Sunday that if members of the “17 November or 17N” terrorist organization got out of prison, then it would be a "serious violation of the rights of terrorist victims" as well as a "failure in the fight against terrorism."

Turkey is closely following the developments, the spokesman added.

The Greek parliament approved late Friday a controversial bill that allows convicts with serious disabilities to get out of prison and serve the remainder of their sentences under house arrest.

The step was said to be taken to help resolve overcrowding problems at Greek prisons and was expected to benefit almost 2,000 prisoners.

Greek opposition parties and relatives of terrorist victims have strongly opposed the bill, fearing it could mean the release of terrorists, including 17N members.

The 17N terrorist organization was once regarded as one of the world's most dangerous terrorist groups. It is accused of carrying out dozens of attacks on Turkish, British and American diplomats in Greece between 1975 and 2002.

The group was allegedly involved in assassinations, bombings, kidnappings, and robberies.

Savvas Ksiros, or Xeros, a 17N member, was responsible for killing two Turkish diplomats and wounding other diplomats at the Turkish Embassy.

Cetin Gorgu, assistant press attaché at the Turkish Embassy in Athens, was shot dead in an attack in 1991, while Omer Haluk Sipahioglu, embassy counselor, was killed in 1994.

Ambassador Deniz Bolukbasi, as well as other officials at Turkish Embassy, was also wounded in attacks carried out by the terrorist group.