A group of Turkish officers who refused to return to Turkey in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15 and sought asylum in the Netherlands have been allowed to stay in the country for 18 months until their asylum applications are processed, according to BBC Turkish service.
The Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service allowed the soldiers and their families to stay in the Netherlands for 18 months, which is the time required by authorities to examine any asylum request.
The BBC Turkish service, which based its report on leading Dutch newspaper NRC, said the officers refused to return to Turkey on the grounds that there is no longer any opportunity to get a fair trial.
There are also other Turkish officers seeking asylum in countries such as Germany, Greece and the US.