More on the Turkish Pope Rage airplane hijacking. “2 Turks hijack airliner to protest pope,” from Associated Press:
BRINDISI, Italy – Two Turks who wanted to protest Pope Benedict XVI “˜s planned trip to Turkey next month hijacked a Turkish Airlines plane carrying 113 people from Albania to Istanbul on Tuesday, and it landed safely in this southern Italian coastal city, officials said.
Istanbul Deputy Gov. Vedat Muftuoglu also said the hijackers had agreed to give themselves up shortly….
Karlitekin added that the hijackers declared that the would surrender “the moment they hijacked the plane,” which was flying from the Albanian capital of Tirana to Istanbul with 107 passengers and a crew of six. Most of the passengers were Albanians, Genc said.
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.
Karlitekin said the jet was hijacked to protest Benedict”˜s planned visit to Turkey next month.