Turkish nationalist threatens to blow up ferry
Police have detained an armed man who briefly held up a ferry and threatened to blow it up in protest against pro-Armenian slogans chanted at a murdered journalist’s funeral, a provincial official said today.
The man, claiming to have plastic explosives on him, seized the ferry in the Dardanelles strait as it was on its way from Gelibolu to Lapseki late last night, said Yusuf Ziya Ince, deputy governor of Canakkale province. Ince identified the hijacker as Nihat Acar.
He gave himself up to police after two hours and released all passengers unharmed, Ince said.
There were 80 passengers aboard the ferry.
The man was armed but was not carrying any explosives, Ince said. Police were investigating reports that the man was a former army sergeant. Dogan said Acar was discharged from the military in 2002 for disciplinary reasons but did not provide details.
Television footage showed the man shouting: “I did it for the country!” as he was being led away from the ferry to a police vehicle.
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 a week ago.
His funeral inspired a massive outpouring of support for reconciliation between Armenians and Turks.
Ince said the man was angered by the pro-Armenian slogans chanted at the funeral. The protester called himself a “Patriotic Turkish Fedai” or one who sacrifices himself for homeland, and unfurled a Turkish flag aboard the ferry during his action, Ince said.
