HIJACKING OF THY FLIGHT 1476 ON OCTOBER 3, 2006

UNCLAS ANKARA 005796 SIPDIS FAA BRUSSELS FOR KURT EDWARDS PARIS PLEASE PASS TSA FOR NOURI LARBI SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O.12356:N/A TAGS: PTER EAIR ASEC TU SUBJECT: HIJACKING OF THY FLIGHT 1476 ON OCTOBER 3, 2006 This message is Sensitive-But-Unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (U) Turkish Deputy Director General for Civil Aviation, Haydar Yalcin, described for us the October 3 hijacking of Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 flight 1476. Yalcin said Turkish national Hakan Ekinci seized control of the flight soon after its departure from Tirana in route to Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport. Early press reports indicated that two men had seized the aircraft in protest of the Pope's planned trip to Turkey in November. However, these reports proved false. Yalcin told us that during his conversations with Ekinci (as the Chair of Turkey's Emergency Action Committee, he talked with the hijacker via telephone during the incident),Ekinci indicated that he boarded the plane in Tirana with the intention of hijacking it and taking it to Rome to request asylum from the Pope. Ekinci, in order to avoid fulfilling his mandatory military service requirement in Turkey, went AWOL from the Turkish military and fled to Albania. There he requested asylum as a "Christian Conscientious Objector" who refused to serve in a Muslim military. Ekinci's request for asylum was denied, and he was being returned to Istanbul from Albania to face charges. Officials at Istanbul Ataturk International Airport confirmed that they had been alerted and were prepared to arrest him upon arrival. ¶2. (U) Reportedly, Ekinci stormed the cockpit when the flight attendants were serving food to the crew and claimed that a second passenger on the back of the plane was carrying a bomb. No weapons or explosives have been found on the plane, and Italian authorities are reportedly still investigating whether or not a second passenger was involved. The pilot was able to transmit a hijack alert signal, which caused Greek military aircraft to scramble. The plane was met by Italian aircraft when it reached Italian airspace. Ekinci demanded to be taken to Rome, but Italian military aircraft forced the plane to land at Brindisi Airport. Ekinci agreed to surrender soon after landing, requested asylum in Rome, and apologized to his fellow passengers as he was taken into custody by Italian authorities. No one was injured during the incident. ¶3. (SBU) According to Yalcin, Turkish Airlines planes have been fitted with reinforced cockpit doors in keeping with international requirements. There are, however, no prohibitions on opening the cockpit doors during flights. The GOT is finalizing its Air Marshal program but has not yet begun deploying Marshals on Turkish-owned airline flights. Yalcin praised the crew's response and stated that they followed standard procedures to the letter. "The captain," he added, "remained calm and maintained control of the situation throughout the entire ordeal." ¶4. (SBU) According to the plane's manifest, there were 107 passengers aboard the plane, four of which were Americans (including one U.S. diplomat) and one of which was the LPR spouse of an American. Five passengers, including Ekinci, were Turks, and 80 were Albanian. There were also six (presumably Turkish) crew members aboard. WILSON