In the following ten days, the 37-year-old Turkish operator of the digging machine who was arrested yesterday in Kastanies in Evros is expected to be returned to Turkey. The Greek court sentenced him to five months’ imprisonment, with a three-year suspension and a fine of 1,500 Euros for illegal entry, but was detained as administrative deportation was ordered by the police, as is customary in such cases.

In the court, as protothema.gr wrote today, he claimed that he made a mistake and instead of heading for his tractor to the Turkish side, he went towards a Greek outpost. “I did not realize they were Greek soldiers I thought they were Turks,” he told the court. He said he entered the Greek territory for very few meters until he was immobilized and said he did not know the area as it was the first time he was going there.

The 37-year-old claimed he had gone to the area to begin work at Turkish customs, and in particular to prepare a drilling area. However, he was not prepared to answer to the head prosecutor’s questions about the dimension of this project and relevant information. “It was wrong, I did not want to go into Greek territory, I was confused,” he said.

Immediately after the trial, his lawyer Christopoulos Kapetanidis, repeated the mistake, hoping that the deportation process would be completed quickly.

After the court’s decision, the accused appealed, but it will take a few days for the procedures of the administrative deportation to be completed.

Mr. Kapetanidis is expected to declare to the police authorities that his client will not make use of any of his appeals against the deportation procedures he is entitled to, hoping that this will speed up his return to Turkey. But the final decision depends on the police, which may have to keep all the statutory time limits.

The court has also ruled on the confiscation of his equipment, as no document was presented proving that it belongs to the municipality of Adrianople. The Turkish Consul of Komotini was also present in the court in Orestiada.