Two Turkish military attaches working in Greece are missing after being called back to Ankara in a post-coup probe

Two Turkish military attaches, both working at the Turkish embassy in Greece, are missing after being called back to Ankara as part of investigations into a failed military coup attempt, according to Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

“Two Turkish military attaches based in Greece fled to Italy and Turkish authorities will contact Italian officials for their return”, Cavusoglu told Turkish broadcaster NTV on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, a Turkish official talking to Reuters news agency claimed that a Turkish military attache in Bosnia is also missing, but this claim was swiftly denied by Turkey’s embassy in the country.

“Turkey’s military attache in Bosnia was not called to Ankara, he is doing his business as usual,” a press officer from the embassy said on Thursday, adding that there was only one Turkish military attache in Bosnia.

Turkish embassy in Athens, on the other hand, confirmed to Al Jazeera that two of their military attaches, Staff-colonel Ilhan Yasitli and Colonel Halis Tunc, are missing with their families, following an investigation about their alleged links to Fethullah Gulen and his network.

Turkish government accuses the US-based cleric and businessman of masterminding last month’s failed coup attempt.

A total of 160 members of the military wanted in connection with the July 15 failed coup are still at large, including nine generals, according to Turkish officials.

A rear admiral is also ‘missing’

A Turkish Rear Admiral on a NATO assignment in the United States has sought asylum in the country after Ankara sought his detention following the failed July 15 coup attempt, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency has said on Wednesday without giving its source.

Anadolu did not say whether the US had accepted Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Ugurlu’s claim, which comes at a time of strained relations between Washington and Ankara.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu later told Turkish broadcaster NTV that Ankara was still waiting for an answer from US officials about the rear-admiral.

Ugurlu, who had been stationed at NATO’s Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, is the subject of a detention order in Turkey and has been expelled from the armed forces, Anadolu reported.

Ugurlu had not been heard from since July 22 when he left the base, it said.

Source: aljazeera.com