A strange hijacking
The affair of the Turkish airline is clouded in confusion. There is contradicting information about the number of the hijackers, a knife and the reasons for the action.
Ankara (AsiaNews) Hasan Hekinci, the man arrested yesterday by Italian police for hijacking a Turkish Airlines flight, did not want to protest against the visit of Benedict XVI to Turkey. The clarification came from a member of the Ankara government, the Transport Minister, Binali Yildrim, who said the hijacker was seeking to escape military service, asking for political asylum in Italy after vainly seeking refuge in Albania.
While the 105 passengers of the Turkish Airlines Flight 1476 reached Istanbul this morning, the original destination of their journey, the whole affair is taking a decidedly confusing shape.
In the first place, no one knows precisely whether Hekinci was working alone or if, as has been claimed, he had an accomplice who got mixed up with the other passengers at the time of the hijacking. Today, some witnesses said three passengers seemed to "know" the hijacker.
How the hijacking was carried out is also a matter of some perplexity. Apparently, the hijacker made threats with a knife, but this weapon was not found on the airline or on the people who were on board.
No less strange is the information given about what happened. When the hijacking was under way, Al Jazeera said there were two hijackers protesting against the papal visit. The Albanian MP, Sabri Abazi, who was on board, also mentioned two hijackers and a knife. Meanwhile, the governor of Istanbul, Muammer Guler, said the hijacker was a convert to Christianity and an army deserter, who had failed to return to barracks after receiving permission for a day off. Shortly afterwards, someone discovered that Hekinci was a conscientious objector, who wanted to send a letter to the pope not to protest, but to ask for help.
Today, Turkish conscientious objectors (not recognised by national legislation, which punishes them with up to five years in prison) distanced themselves from Hekinci. "Using conscientious objection as an instrument of violence is unacceptable," said one of the leaders of the movement, Ugur Yorulmaz. Until a few weeks ago, however, a message from the hijacker featured on the same site, asking for solidarity. Today, Yorulmaz said it was taken off because Hekinci's conduct "revealed imbalance."
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