Police detains Turkish man who threatened to blow up ferry

The man, claiming to be armed and have plastic explosives on him, seized the ferry in the Dardanelles strait as it was on its way from Gelibolu to Lapseki late Saturday, said Yusuf Ziya Ince, deputy governor of Canakkale province. Ince identified the hijacker as Nihat Acar.

He gave himself up to police after 2 1/2 hours and released all passengers unharmed, Ince said. Private Dogan news agency said there were 80 passengers aboard the ferry.

The man was carrying a fake gun but no 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, Ince said. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/