Italian prosecutors to question Turkish airplane hijacker

BRINDISI – Turkish officials gave assurances yesterday that all necessary security measures would be taken during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Turkey next month, after an unarmed Turkish army deserter hijacked a plane, claiming he had a message for the pontiff.

Benedict kept to his schedule yesterday, circling through St. Peter’s Square in his open-topped popemobile and greeting some 30 000 pilgrims and tourists who were attending his weekly audience under a light drizzle.Uniformed and plainclothes police kept watch over the crowd as part of heightened security measures put in place after Benedict’s remarks on September 12 in Germany about violence and Islam sparked anger and protests in the Muslim world.The Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-400, with 113 people aboard was hijacked on Tuesday evening during a flight from Tirana, Albania, to Istanbul, Turkey, and landed in the southern Italian Adriatic port city of Brindisi after Italian air force fighter pilots escorted the aircraft.Italian Minister Giuliano Amato told lawmakers in Rome on Wednesday that the man wanted to deliver a message for Pope Benedict XVI, but was not carrying a written letter for the pontiff.”The reason he insisted on landing in Rome or in Brindisi, was to get a missive to the pope,” Amato said, adding the man claimed to fear for his safety because he converted to Christianity in his native Turkey, which is officially secular but predominantly Muslim.The hijacker slipped into the cockpit when flight attendants opened the cockpit door, said Amato, whose ministry is responsible for state police and civilian intelligence services.The man handed the pilot a note, claiming that he had a message for the pope and that other hijackers aboard another, unspecified plane “would blow that plane up if the missive didn’t get to the pope,” Amato said.Amato said the incident showed “the fragility” of the Turkish airline security.”We all have in mind the pope’s visit to Turkey in the coming weeks,” Amato said, a pilgrimage which will “present delicate security problems.”But the minister said that he didn’t think the incident had increased the security threat level for the pope’s planned visit in late November.Nampa-APPeter’s Square in his open-topped popemobile and greeting some 30 000 pilgrims and tourists who were attending his weekly audience under a light drizzle.Uniformed and plainclothes police kept watch over the crowd as part of heightened security measures put in place after Benedict’s remarks on September 12 in Germany about violence and Islam sparked anger and protests in the Muslim world.The Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-400, with 113 people aboard was hijacked on Tuesday evening during a flight from Tirana, Albania, to Istanbul, Turkey, and landed in the southern Italian Adriatic port city of Brindisi after Italian air force fighter pilots escorted the aircraft.Italian Minister Giuliano Amato told lawmakers in Rome on Wednesday that the man wanted to deliver a message for Pope Benedict XVI, but was not carrying a written letter for the pontiff.”The reason he insisted on landing in Rome or in Brindisi, was to get a missive to the pope,” Amato said, adding the man claimed to fear for his safety because he converted to Christianity in his native Turkey, which is officially secular but predominantly Muslim.The hijacker slipped into the cockpit when flight attendants opened the cockpit door, said Amato, whose ministry is responsible for state police and civilian intelligence services.The man handed the pilot a note, claiming that he had a message for the pope and that other hijackers aboard another, unspecified plane “would blow that plane up if the missive didn’t get to the pope,” Amato said.Amato said the incident showed “the fragility” of the Turkish airline security.”We all have in mind the pope’s visit to Turkey in the coming weeks,” Amato said, a pilgrimage which will “present delicate security problems.”But the minister said that he didn’t think the incident had increased the security threat level for the pope’s planned visit in late November.Nampa-AP