Two Turkish military attaches posted in Greece fled to Italy at the weekend following last month's failed coup, Turkey's top diplomat said Thursday, saying Ankara was working to track them down.

The two missing envoys are among several Turkish officials posted abroad who Ankara is seeking to locate over their alleged links to the July 15 coup.

Speaking to NTV television, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said colonels Halis Tunc and Ilhan Yasitli left on August 6, taking the car ferry across the Adriatic Sea to Italy.

"We are working to bring both these traitors back to Turkey," he said, without detailing the allegations against the men.

"The Greek authorities recorded this. Tunc's brother lives in Holland. We are working with both the Netherlands and Italy," he said.

Earlier this week, media reports said the pair had gone missing. Yasitli is reported to be the overall military attache and Tunc the naval attache. Their accreditation to Athens has now been cancelled.

A Greek government source told AFP that Athens was aware of the case but had not been tipped off about the attaches before they fled.

"The two attaches left the country before the Turkish authorities went looking for them," said the source. "And before we were informed that their diplomatic passports had been revoked."

Turkey has embarked on a wholesale purge of the military in the wake of the coup which was blamed by Ankara on followers of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.

- 'People escaped' -

The two Athens-based attaches are among several Turkish officials based abroad now wanted by Ankara in the wake of the coup.

"There are people who escaped and some of our diplomats are among them," said Cavusoglu.

"For example two officials based in Bangladesh have escaped to New York," he said, adding that an ultimatum for them to return had expired.

In a separate case that has strained improving ties between Ankara and Athens, eight Turkish military officers fled by helicopter to Greece after the failed coup of July 15. To block their deportation back to Turkey, they have applied for asylum.

They have been handed suspended two-month prison terms for illegal entry and will remain in police custody until their asylum hearing on August 19.

Two Turkish generals serving in the NATO force in Afghanistan were also detained in Dubai last month on suspicion of links to the failed coup.

Cavusoglu revealed they had been detained by the UAE authorities and extradited to Turkey aboard a special flight.

He also confirmed Saudi authorities detained the Turkish military attache to Kuwait, thanking Riyadh for its help in delivering him back to Turkey.

Outcry as Bulgaria deports Gulen supporter to Turkey
Sofia (AFP) Aug 11, 2016 - Bulgaria's deportation to Turkey of a supporter of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for last month's failed coup, sparked an outcry in the EU member state on Thursday.

Businessman Abdullah Buyuk, 43, was deported on Wednesday "as a person with invalid documents" after being refused political asylum, Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova told bTV television on Thursday.

This sparked outrage in the news media and on social media, with critics charging that Sofia had bowed to Turkish pressure and had failed to follow proper legal or transparent procedures.

"It is disgusting that the Bulgarian leadership bends in such a humiliating way for the country and for every free citizen," former justice minister Hristo Ivanov said on Facebook.

The chairman of rights group the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Krasimir Kanev, told AFP that the expulsion was "illegal".

Bulgarian media have dug around Buyuk's case for weeks after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said several times that Ankara wants Buyuk transferred back as "a traitor".

He arrived in Bulgaria in February -- long before the coup -- and Turkey had already sought his extradition, accusing him of "!links with terrorist organisations and money laundering".

In March, two Bulgarian courts however refused to send him back, saying he was "sought for political reasons" and that they "lacked guarantees for a fair trial" in Turkey.

Prosecutors told AFP last week however that after the July 15 coup attempt, Turkey asked Bulgaria to reexamine the case. They replied that the request was "procedurally inadmissible".

But interior ministry deputy chief of staff Georgy Arabadzhiev told journalists on Thursday that Bulgaria had now received from Interpol "new worrying facts and circumstances" about Buyuk, without elaborating.

As a result, the ministry issued on Tuesday an order to expel him immediately, tracked him down and escorted him to the border.

Bulgaria has been extremely careful in its comments on the failed coup in its southeastern neighbour, fearing a mass influx of refugees if Turkey's deal with Brussels to stop migrants coming to the EU falls apart.

Gulen, 75, strongly denies being behind the failed putsch. His organisation paid for Buyuk's education and Buyuk told a Bulgarian court that he followed the principles of Gulen's movement.

"Bulgaria has returned a FETO (Fetullah Terror Organisation) member. We thank Bulgaria and it's thanks to our cooperation," Cavusoglu said in a television interview on Thursday.