Turkish Christian hijacks plane, asks pope's help

Published: 2006-10-04

ROME (CNS) -- A man claiming he was discriminated against as a Christian in Turkey forced a Turkish airplane with 113 people on board to fly to Italy, where he hoped Pope Benedict XVI would help him obtain asylum. The alleged hijacker, 28-year-old Hakan Ekinci, surrendered about two hours after the plane landed Oct. 3 in Brindisi, Italy. Ekinci apparently was unarmed and no one on board was hurt. Initial reports from Turkish television -- widely rebroadcast, but denied by both Italian and Turkish authorities almost immediately after Ekinci surrendered -- had identified the hijacker as a Turkish Muslim protesting Pope Benedict's plans to visit Turkey in November. Even before it was clear that Ekinci was not protesting the papal trip, the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, told Catholic News Service that the incident had not prompted reconsideration of the trip scheduled for Nov. 28-Dec. 1.

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