ATHENS:
A 20-year-old Turkish man who used a dozen candles and a razor blade to
hijack a Turkish airlines flight was persuaded by Turkey's prime minister
to release his 202 hostages after the plane landed in Athens.Ozgur Gencarslan, 20, was arrested yesterday after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek police negotiated the hostages' release following a five-hour standoff. All were unharmed.
Erdogan telephoned the hijacker and urged him to surrender, according to Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim and conversations between the pilot and the Athens flight control tower.
The taped conversation between the Turkish pilot and the control tower was broadcast by Greece's Mega television network. "We are negotiating," the pilot told the control tower when informed that police had arrived. "Negotiating with whom? I don't understand, please say again," the tower asked. "We are negotiating with our prime minister," the pilot replied.
Gencarslan commandeered the plane - on a Turkish domestic flight between Istanbul and Ankara - reportedly because he was distraught with family problems. The dozen candles were wrapped in grey paper, similar to that used for dynamite, and attached to a makeshift belt, he added.
"He entered cockpit and showed the captain the belt claiming it contained explosives. At the same time he threatened the co-pilot with a razor to his throat,"
The Turkish man was charged yesterday with hijacking an airliner bound for Ankara, as the plane's passengers returned safely home to an emotional welcome from relatives after a night of heart-stopping drama. A prosecutor in Athens charged Ozgur Gen- caslan, 20, with illegal occupation of the aircraft and infringing the rules of flight, as well as carrying a firearm, judicial sources said.
According to the Greek state secretary for transport, the lone hijacker appeared to have "psychological problems", while passengers on the plane described him as "pitifully" frail and small. After a night of high drama, weeping relatives yesterday greeted the passengers.
There were emotional scenes at Ankara's Esenboga airport, as the passengers were flown safely home at dawn after the hijacker surrendered peacefully, Turkish television footage showed.
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