Hijacker surrenders in Greece; all passengers freed unharmed

ATHENS, Greece -- A hijacker saying he was armed with explosives commandeered a domestic Turkish flight late Friday and forced it to land in Greece. He surrendered hours later and more than 200 people aboard were freed unharmed, officials said.

Police arrested 20-year-old Ozgur Gencarslan, a Turkish citizen who was reportedly overwhelmed by family problems.

"All passengers are safe outside the airplane. That was our concern," Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou said at Athens airport.

Turkish police said Gencarslan hijacked the plane to reunite with his father who lives in Germany, private NTV television reported. He was distraught because his stepfather had barred him from seeing his mother and sister in Turkey.

"It appears he had some psychological problems. Another plane is on the way to collect the passengers," Greek Deputy Transport Minister Manolis Stratakis said.

He said police were checking passenger reports that the hijacker was strapped with explosives and brandishing a razor.

Turkish authorities said that there were no injuries among the 205 people aboard -- 196 passengers and nine crew members.

The first clear break to the standoff came as passengers began filing out of the Turkish Airlines plane early Saturday, about five hours after the hijacking began.

"We've boarded buses, we're heading toward terminal building," passenger Kubilay Timucin told Turkish television in a cell phone call.

The Turkish Airlines plane was on a domestic flight from Istanbul to Ankara when it was hijacked 25 minutes after takeoff.

It diverted course and began heading toward the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, later traveling to Greece, Turkey's private NTV television reported.

After the plane stopped in Athens to refuel, Greek anti-terrorist police surrounded it at an isolated area of the Athens runway and a top police official negotiated with the hijacker.

The Greek air force scrambled F-16 fighter jets to prevent the plane from landing, but officials quickly called them off.

"Two hundred people are two hundred people. We would have prevented it coming to Athens, but they said they had no fuel and we couldn't risk it," Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas said.

Turkey's Transportation Ministry said the hijacker claimed to have plastic explosives and was seen carrying five candle sticks as he boarded in Istanbul. It said he have pretended that they were explosives.

During the standoff, Turkish television broadcast interviews with passengers who spoke via mobile phones.

"The hostess told us that a male hijacker was in the cockpit, and said he had strapped bombs onto his body," a passenger, who identified himself as Sami, told private NTV television by phone from the plane.

Turkey's Anatolia news agency said three lawmakers and a former Turkish economy minister were on board.

Another passenger, Kaan Sahinalp, told Turkey's TV 8 television station there was little panic on board.

"We are waiting. We believe the plane will take off to Germany," Sahinalp said.

The Greek police have for months been training a special anti-terrorist squad to deal with hijackings and other terrorism at the airport as part of its preparations for the Olympics.

The last hijacking at Istanbul's airport was in February, when a lone hijacker claiming to have a bomb briefly held two flight attendants hostage before police stormed the aircraft.

In 1998, a man carrying a teddy bear he claimed was stuffed with explosives commandeered a Turkish Airlines flight. The incident ended when he was overpowered by other passengers.

Seven months later a man brandishing what turned out to be a toy gun hijacked another Turkish jetliner. He was persuaded to surrender.

A third hijacking that year ended in bloodshed when security officials stormed a plane on the tarmac at Ankara airport and shot dead a Kurdish rebel armed with a hand grenade. No passengers were hurt.