Athens contacts Turkish authorities about Greek prisoner’s request to appear in Turkish prison at the funeral of his son, who is among the dead tragedy in Tempe.

According to diplomatic sources, in yesterday’s message, the family of a Greek prisoner asked the Greek consulate in Adrianople for help in order to allow this prisoner to be present at the exodus of his relative for humanitarian reasons.

Following the instructions of Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, the Greek consul immediately contacted the competent Turkish prosecutor’s office and requested emergency permission to visit a Greek citizen, without meeting the weekly deadline. The requested permission to visit has been granted on an exceptional basis and this morning (03/03/2023) is expected to take place.

At the same time, a meeting was requested with the head of the competent Raidesto Attorney General’s Office in order to convey the corresponding request of a Greek citizen.

In addition, as part of the instructions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias, the Greek Embassy in Ankara yesterday immediately sent an oral message to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasizing the humanitarian nature of the request, while telephone communication was also carried out by the Greek Embassy with the departments of bilateral relations, as well as with consular matters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.

Today in the afternoon there will be a meeting on the same issue between the Greek Ambassador in Ankara and the Secretary General of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the same diplomatic sources, accepting or not accepting a request for a “special permit for humanitarian reasons” is within the exclusive competence of the Turkish authorities.