Türkiye slams Greece for releasing November 17 terrorist leader

Ankara has delivered a sharp rebuke to Athens following the conditional release of Alexandros Giotopoulos, the convicted mastermind behind the November 17 terror organisation. The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the May 21 release, describing the 82‑year‑old as the instigator of multiple fatal attacks targeting Turkish diplomats in Greece.

Decades of bloodshed

The ministry noted that Giotopoulos was serving 17 life sentences plus an additional 25 years for orchestrating the 1991 killing of press attaché Çetin Görgü, the attempted assassination of embassy counsellor Deniz Bölükbaşı the same year, and the 1994 murder of counsellor Haluk Sipahioğlu. “The move represents an unacceptable display of tolerance toward this vile terrorist and amounts to a grave disrespect to the memory of our martyred diplomats and their families,” the statement read.

Call for accountability

A Greek judicial panel approved Giotopoulos’s conditional release citing his advanced age. Türkiye urged Greek authorities to refrain from actions that could weaken counter‑terrorism efforts and to uphold their responsibilities regarding the punishment of convicted terrorists. The incident has further strained already tense Turkish‑Greek relations, which have also been roiled by disputes over the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean, and the term “Turkish Straits” at the UN.