Men hijack Turkish jet in Pope protest

TWO Turks who wanted to protest Pope Benedict XVI’s planned trip to Turkey next month hijacked a Turkish Airlines jet carrying 113 people from Albania to Istanbul yesterday.

The jet later landed in the Italian city of Brindisi. The hijackers, who were unarmed, subsequently gave themselves up.

Police reportedly said the two hijackers would now ask for political asylum.

Candan Karlitekin, chairman of Turkish Airlines’ board of directors, said no one aboard the Boeing 737-400 was injured. Turkish authorities identified one of the hijackers as Hakan Ekinci. The other’s first name was Mahmut, but his family name was not known.

A Vatican official said he expected no changes in Pope Benedict’s plans for the visit. He said an official Vatican announcement that the trip would take place November 28 to December 1 would be made soon.

Benedict angered the Muslim world in a speech in Germany, when he used a medieval quotation linking Islam and violence.

Istanbul Deputy Governor Vedat Muftuoglu Muftuoglu said the hijackers stormed the cockpit about 15-20 minutes after takeoff from 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.

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.