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Turkish authorities have reacted furiously to Greek Supreme Court’s decision not to hand over the eight soldiers, who fled the country after a failed coup attempt in July 2016, saying that decision was ”politically motivated.”

Ankara will take “necessary steps” against Athens, said Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on January 27.

“There is a migration deal we signed, including a readmission deal with Greece, and we are evaluating what we can do, including the cancellation of the readmission deal with Greece,” Hurriyet quoted the minister as saying.

The soldiers, including two majors, flew helicopters to Alexandroupolis on July 16, 2016, prompting the Greek authorities to begin legal and diplomatic proceedings on charges of illegal entry into the country.

Turkish authorities want the officers to stand trial for their involvement in the coup attempt, which nearly toppled the government, and issued arrest warrants for the eight men.

“We gave Greece all the necessary documents, evidence and everything. We demanded that the eight soldiers be tried again. This is a political decision. Now Greece is in a position protecting and hosting coup plotters and terrorists. It also possessed terrorists like the DHKP-C and the PKK. It is also known that there are some DHKP-C camps in Greece,” the minister said, in reference to two outlawed groups, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turkey has repeatedly demanded the swift extradition of the soldiers and the case had exposed often tense relations between Athens and Ankara.

The two countries play an important role in the handling of Europe’s worst migration crisis in decades, and the EU depends on Ankara to enforce a deal to stem mass migration to Europe.

Ankara agreed to take back all migrants landing on Greece as of March 20, while the EU would take back the same amount of Syrian refugees from Turkey. Turkey agreed with the EU to take back all migrants and refugees who cross to Greece illegally in exchange for financial aid, visa-free travel for Turks, and “accelerated” EU membership talks.

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