Turkey yesterday said that the Kurdish rebel leader, Mr Abdullah Ocalan, was at Athens airport, waiting for a decision by the Greek authorities on his fate, but the report was promptly denied by the Greek ambassador to Ankara.
"We know that he is at Athens airport and is waiting in a plane for a decision by Greek authorities," Mr Korkmaz Haktanir of the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in Ankara.
He claimed Mr Ocalan (49) arrived in Athens after a brief landing for refuelling in a small Dutch airport.
"We expect Athens to keep its former promises that it will not shelter Ocalan. Our request for his extradition to Turkey is still valid," the Turkish diplomat said.
However, the Greek ambassador, Mr Dimitris Nezeritis, who was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for a second time yesterday, denied the report, which he said was a "claim by a Greek private channel that had not been confirmed by the Greek government".
"Ocalan is not in Greece; he never was and never will be," Mr Nezeritis said. "No private plane has requested permission to land at Athens airport."
The ambassador had earlier denied reports that the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was on his way to Athens and assured Ankara that Mr Ocalan would not be allowed to enter Greek territory.
A Dutch lawyer for Mr Ocalan, Ms Britta Bohler, said earlier yesterday that the rebel leader tried to land in the Netherlands but was turned back for "technical reasons". She added that the private plane he was travelling in had then headed for Athens.
In Athens, the spokesman for the Greek Foreign Ministry, Mr Theodoros Theodorou, said it had no information on any alleged plans by Mr Ocalan to head to Greece.
The manager of Athens airport, Mr Yannis Haralambakis, also categorically denied that Mr Ocalan was present.
But rumours of Mr Ocalan's presence at the airport continued. Mr Panos Kammenos, a deputy for the conservative opposition New Democracy, said two deputies from the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) told him that Mr Ocalan was there and that "the Greek authorities were trying to find a country which would take him."
The private Antenna television channel reported that the rebel leader's plane was refuelling.
The speculation prompted the Greek government spokesman, Mr Dimitris Reppas, to say: "There is confusion about this. The people who say Ocalan is in Greece must prove it."