Turkish Hijacker Surrenders to Italian Authorities

04/10/2006| IslamWeb

The Italian authorities say only one Turkish man has surrendered after an airliner with 113 people on board was hijacked and forced to land at an Italian airport.

Earlier on Tuesday, those aboard a Turkish Airlines plane flying from Tirana, Albania, to Istanbul in Turkey said two Turkish men had hijacked the plane and forced it to land in Brandisi, Italy.

The plane landed safely and all 107 passengers and six crew left the plane after brief negotiations with the hijacker, Italy's aviation authority ENAC said.

Antonio Lattarulo, head of ENAC for Brinidisi, said: "At the moment, one person has given himself up. We are trying to verify whether there was a second hijacker on the aircraft."

Turkish television reported one of the hijackers had recently converted to Christianity and was a conscientious objector, going against their initial reports that the hijack was staged in protest over the Pope's planned visit to Turkey.

It said he had sent a letter to the Pope in late August asking for his help to avoid compulsory military service in Turkey.

A Greek defence ministry official said: "The plane sent the [coded hijack] signal twice while in Greek air space. Four Greek fighter jets took off and accompanied the plane as it left Greek air space towards the Italian city of Brindisi."

The plane contacted Italian air traffic controllers just before 5.30pm (14.30 GMT) and asked to land in Brindisi, according to Nicoletta Tomiselli, a spokeswoman for the Italian air traffic agency ENAV.

Tomiselli said the aircraft, carrying 113 people, was escorted to the ground by two Italian military planes. 

PHOTO CAPTION

A photo released by Izmir city police department shows Turkish citizen Hakan Ekinci the hijacker of a Turkish Airline plane, October 3, 2006. (Reuters)