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POLICE BRIEFLY DETAIN 2 MEN SUSPECTED OF PLANNING TO HIJACK ISTANBUL FERRY
International Herald Tribune, France
Feb 10 2007
ANKARA, Turkey: Police detained two men Saturday on suspicions that
they were planning to hold up an Istanbul ferry to protest the fact
that pro-Armenian slogans had been chanted at a slain journalist's
funeral, police said Saturday.
An Istanbul court ordered the two men released after questioning,
saying there was not enough evidence to charge them.
Acting on a tip, police detained the two men at the city's entrance
Saturday, a police official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity
because of rules that bar civil servants from speaking to reporters
without prior authorization.
Police said the two men - from the eastern city of Igdir, near the
borders with Iran and Armenia - allegedly planned to hijack a ferry
sailing between the Asian and European shores of the Bosporous, copying
a ferry hijacking last month in the Dardanelles strait, police said.
That hijacker had threatened to blow the ferry up in protesting the
pro-American slogans. He had been carrying a gun, but no explosives,
and after about 2 1/2 hours surrendered to police. No passengers
were harmed.
As the two men detained Saturday left the courthouse, they shouted:
"Turks have no other friends but Turks!" the state-run Anatolia news
agency reported.
Ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who spoke out about the mass
killings of Armenians in the early 20th century, was gunned down
outside his newspaper in Istanbul on Jan. 19.
Dink had been brought to trial numerous times for allegedly "insulting
Turkishness," a crime under an article in the country's penal code.
His funeral inspired a massive outpouring of support for reconciliation
between Armenians and Turks, with thousands chanting "We're all
Armenians." Nationalists however, were angered by the pro-Armenian
slogans.
International Herald Tribune, France
Feb 10 2007
ANKARA, Turkey: Police detained two men Saturday on suspicions that
they were planning to hold up an Istanbul ferry to protest the fact
that pro-Armenian slogans had been chanted at a slain journalist's
funeral, police said Saturday.
An Istanbul court ordered the two men released after questioning,
saying there was not enough evidence to charge them.
Acting on a tip, police detained the two men at the city's entrance
Saturday, a police official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity
because of rules that bar civil servants from speaking to reporters
without prior authorization.
Police said the two men - from the eastern city of Igdir, near the
borders with Iran and Armenia - allegedly planned to hijack a ferry
sailing between the Asian and European shores of the Bosporous, copying
a ferry hijacking last month in the Dardanelles strait, police said.
That hijacker had threatened to blow the ferry up in protesting the
pro-American slogans. He had been carrying a gun, but no explosives,
and after about 2 1/2 hours surrendered to police. No passengers
were harmed.
As the two men detained Saturday left the courthouse, they shouted:
"Turks have no other friends but Turks!" the state-run Anatolia news
agency reported.
Ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who spoke out about the mass
killings of Armenians in the early 20th century, was gunned down
outside his newspaper in Istanbul on Jan. 19.
Dink had been brought to trial numerous times for allegedly "insulting
Turkishness," a crime under an article in the country's penal code.
His funeral inspired a massive outpouring of support for reconciliation
between Armenians and Turks, with thousands chanting "We're all
Armenians." Nationalists however, were angered by the pro-Armenian
slogans.