Hijackers Surrender
October 3, 2006
"The two men have surrendered to police," the official told AFP.
The plane with 113 passengers and crew on board was hijacked during a flight from Albania to Istanbul.
Italian civil aviation authorities told the ANSA news agency that the two apparently unarmed hijackers had a message for Pope Benedict XVI, who is due to visit mainly Muslim Turkey in late November.
Istanbul vice governor Vedat Muftuoglu said the hijackers took control of the plane 15 to 20 minutes after it took off from the Albanian capital Tirana.
"They said their action was to protest the pope's visit and that they wanted to go to Rome," Muftuoglu told CNN-Turk television, adding that the pilot said he did not have enough fuel to reach Rome and would have to land in the southeastern city of Brindisi.
Seeking political asylum?
However, Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim told NTV television that the hijackers were seeking political asylum and there are no indications that they are protesting against the pope's planned visit to Turkey.
"The information concerning the pope was not confirmed.... According to the information we just received these persons are seeking political asylum and have said so to the (Italian) police," Yildirim said.
He said there were 107 passengers and six crew on board the Boeing 737-400, which was intercepted by two Italian military F-16s and forced to land in Brindisi.
Pope still to visit Turkey
Benedict XVI, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, is scheduled to visit Turkey in November despite a furore over the pope's recent remarks on Islam.
Doubts had been raised over the Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 visit following outrage in Turkey and the rest of the Muslim world over the speech the pope made last month in Germany linking violence and Islam.
Quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor on the prophet Mohammed, founder of the Muslim faith, the pope said: "He said, I quote, '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'."
The deputy director of Italy's civil aviation authority, Salvatore Sciacchitano, told Italian news channel Sky TV 24 that the hijackers were not aggressive and were willing to free the passengers.
Negotiations with the hijackers were being conducted from the Brindisi control tower, authorities said, adding that the administrator of the Brindisi region and a judge were taking part.
Hijackers reportedly unarmed
Airline spokesman Ali Genc, told NTV television: "We managed to speak to the pilot over the telephone who said the hijackers were unarmed and treated the passengers well."
Brindisi police said the hijackers would release the passengers if they were allowed to send their message to the pope.
The Vatican is monitoring developments in the hijacking, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said, quoted by ANSA.
"We have been alerted. We are waiting for further information," he said.
The pope has repeatedly apologized for unleashing the storm of protest through his remarks last month. But despite his statement of regrets, the trip to Turkey, a strictly secular country vying for European Union membership, is unlikely to be an easy one.
Benedict is already seen in Turkey as the anti-Turkish pope for opposing Ankara's drive to join the European Union as "a grave error... against the tide of history" when he was still Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger.
All flights to Brindisi have been rerouted to nearby Bari, regional airport authorities said.