Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Errm, why?

Back in the bad old days of serial hi-jacks of aeroplanes there were all sorts of anomalies. For instance, there were all those Americans who hi-jacked American planes to fly to Cuba. Most of them pleaded to be allowed back into the despised United States within a very short space of time.

I even recall jokes about Cuban aeroplanes being hi-jacked to fly to Florida but, of course, for the many Cubans who desperately tried to get out of Castro’s “paradise” that was not all that funny.

Now we have news of what must be one of the most bizarre hi-jacks in recent times. A Turkish airliner, on its way from Tirana to Istanbul was hi-jacked by, apparently, two Turks (or maybe not) who demanded that it should fly to Brindisi in southern Italy.

The plane was escorted by the Greek air force and negotiations have been conducted by the Italian civil aviation authority. The hi-jackers are not threatening anyone and are ready to surrender. They are merely protesting against Pope Benedict’s forthcoming visit to Turkey.

Surely, there must be something more to this. Even if there isn’t, one has to love the ending of the BBC’s report:

A speech by Pope Benedict suggesting a link between Islam and violence sparked angry protests in Turkey and other mainly Muslim countries last month.

Say what?

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