The two Greek soldiers being held in a Turkish prison have had a request for house arrest turned down on Tuesday.
State-run Anadolu Agency reported that the two junior officers, who have been held in Edirne maximum-security prison since accidentally crossing the Turkish border in early March, wanted to await charge and trial under house arrest instead.
However, the court said there was a lack of a suitable, permanent Turkish address for the pair to be transferred to.
The case of Lieutenant Angelos Mitretodis and Sergeant Dimitris Kouklatzis, who were arrested for entering Turkey at the Evros border after they lost their way due to heavy snowfall during a routine patrol, has further soured relations between Athens and Ankara.
At an EU leaders’ summit on Friday, Greek premier Alexis Tsipras expected that the issue of the two Greek soldiers would be raised during an EU-Turkey summit in Bulgaria on Monday.
There, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called on Turkey to release the two Greek servicemen before Orthodox Easter (April 6).
“We trust that the Turkish authorities will resolve this issue in a just way, and I hope this issue will be resolved before the Orthodox Easter this year,” Juncker said.
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