October 03, 2006

Reader Love Air Mail for Pope Bennedict.

From Turkey, with love and kisses I’m sure.

CNN: BRINDISI, Italy (CNN) -- Passengers from a hijacked Turkish plane carrying 113 people are leaving the aircraft after the two unarmed Turks who hijacked the plane, protesting the pope's upcoming visit to Turkey, agreed to release them.

Italy's transport minister announced the release on NTV, and the network reported that the passengers were disembarking from the plane.

Authorities have also said the two hijackers have indicated they were ready to surrender to authorities, but one of their demands was that a message be delivered to Pope Benedict XVI.

Update: I was wrong. It turns out these weren't Turkish Islamist these were Christians desparate to escape from Turkish Islamists. Specifically they feared persecution in the Turkish Army.

Turkish officials said one of the hijackers, identified as Hasan Ekinci, wrote a letter to the pope in August asking for help in avoiding service in the Turkish army.

"I am a Christian and don't want to serve a Muslim army," he wrote, adding that he had been attending church since 1998.

The hijacking incident began Tuesday afternoon when the Turkish airliner departed Tirana, Albania, heading to Istanbul, Turkey. The hijackers entered the plane's cockpit over Greek airspace, officials said.

I thought the plane was Hijacked by Islamists because there are a lot of extreme Islamists in Turkey. Nope the plane was hijhacked by Christians because there are a lot of extreme Islamists in Turkey.

My bad.