Emotional return for Turkish hijack passengers

Passengers of a Turkish plane seized by a lone hijacker received an emotional welcome from relatives when they arrived in Ankara from Athens yesterday after their night-long ordeal ended peacefully.

The hijacker, described by officials as depressed and unstable, surrendered at Athens airport just before dawn, an hour after freeing all the passengers of a domestic Turkish Airlines flight.

The drama ended after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan spoke by mobile telephone to the hijacker as Greek police surrounded the aircraft. Excited and tearful relatives packed Ankara airport arrivals lounge to greet their loved ones.

One passenger, Sami Yildirim, told a local news channel: "We weren't too scared because we were able to get off the plane quickly. We could see the hijacker through the cockpit door."

The hijacker, who claimed he had explosives strapped to his body, seized the flight on Friday night after it took off from Istanbul for Ankara. It had 203 people on board, including passengers from Turkey, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Britain, Japan and Russia.

Greek police said that when they searched the man after his arrest they found no explosives or weapons. He appeared before an Athens prosecutor yesterday afternoon, was charged and arraigned until Monday.

Ankara has asked Greece to extradite the hijacker to Turkey for trial, Transport Minister Binali Yildirim told the Turkish state-run Anatolian news agency.

However, Greek Justice Minister Philipos Petsalnikos told reporters he was not aware of the request. "If we receive such a request we will apply the conventions in force," he said.

Yildirim had earlier identified the hijacker as Ozgur Gencaslan, born in 1983, who had apparently spent many years in Germany before moving to Turkey.

He said the man wanted the plane to refuel in Athens and fly on to Berlin, home to Germany's biggest Turkish community.