The Turkish judiciary on Sunday ordered the detention of a Greek citizen pending an investigation into espionage charges the day after he was arrested in a security operation coordinated by the Turkish intelligence service, police said.
Muhammad Ammar Embara was arrested in the Gaziantep region in southeastern Turkey, near the Syrian border. A statement from the Gaziantep Security Directorate, released by the official Anadolu news agency, said that Turkish intelligence had arrested “a Greek citizen on suspicion of spying for Athens.” “It is believed that he collected information about the Turkish army at the border and passed it on to Greek intelligence,” the agency said in a statement.
And over the weekend, Turkish media reported that Ampara pretended to be a businessman during his trips to Turkey. Meanwhile, the Greek Foreign Ministry said that the Greek Embassy in Ankara was informed a few weeks ago about the loss of the Ampara. The embassy indicated that they had previously raised the issue with the Turkish authorities, but the latter did not give any answers.
Greece and Turkey are members of NATO, but some disputes aggravate relations between them. Greece and Turkey have entered into an escalating war of words over Ankara’s accusations that Athens is deploying forces on islands near its maritime borders in excess of the number stipulated in the peace treaties. Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would not hold bilateral meetings with Greek leaders, as stipulated in a 2010 agreement between the two sides. Turkey has also accused Greece of refusing to hand over parts of the Turkish army that Ankara believes played a direct role in the 2016 coup attempt.
