Turks hijack airliner to protest pope's visit

Turks hijack airliner to protest pope's visit
Negotiations under way after jet lands in Italy, passengers, crew unharmed

Two Turks protesting Pope Benedict XVI’s planned trip to Turkey next month hijacked a Turkish Airlines jet carrying 113 people from Albania to Istanbul on Tuesday, and then surrendered shortly after the plane landed safely in this southern Italian coastal city.

The hijackers, who were unarmed, had earlier begun releasing passengers from the Boeing 737-400, which was parked on the tarmac in the darkness.

Asked about the hijacking, a Vatican official said he expected no changes in Benedict’s plans for the visit. The official, who asked that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the issue, told The Associated Press that an official Vatican announcement that the trip would take place Nov. 28-Dec. 1 would be made soon.

Benedict angered the Muslim world in a speech in Germany on Sept. 12, when he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying: “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

Benedict has expressed regret for offending Muslims by his remarks and said they did not reflect his personal views, but he has not offered a complete apology as some had sought.

Turkish Airlines officials had initially spoken to Capt. Mursel Gokalp and co-pilot Yavuz Yilmaz, who told them the hijackers were not armed and that the passengers were not in any danger, said Ali Genc, a spokesman for the carrier.

Muftuoglu said the hijackers stormed the cockpit about 15-20 minutes after takeoff from the Albanian capital of Tirana.

“They told the pilots that they wanted to carry out an act to protest the pope and that they wanted the plane diverted to Rome and that they (the pilots) should not resist,” he told Turkey’s CNN-Turk television.

Karlitekin said the hijackers declared that they would surrender “the moment they hijacked the plane,” which carried 107 passengers and a crew of six. Most of the passengers were Albanians, Genc said.

The Turkish captain issued an alert that his plane was hijacked and he was contacted by Greek air traffic controllers at 5:55 p.m. (10:55 a.m. ET), 15 miles north of Thessaloniki, Greece, said Dimitris Stavropoulos, spokesman for Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority.

The captain told the Greek controllers: “I have two undesirable people who want to go to Italy to see the pope and give him a message,” according to Stavropoulos.

The plane later contacted Italian air traffic controllers and asked to land in Brindisi, and it was escorted to the ground by two Italian military jets.