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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