Turk hostage drama ends peacefully

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), APRIL 23. Over 600 guests and staff who were held hostage by a pro-Chechen group in an Istanbul hotel in the early hours of this morning were released unarmed. The hostage- takers surrendered to Turk authorities after talks with the Interior Minister, Mr. Sadettin Tantan. This is the second such incident with a Turkish connection since the beginning of the year and raised troubling questions in the context of a struggling economy.

Thirteen gunmen stormed the Swissotel in Istanbul after mid-night local time firing in the air. They held the hotel staff and guests hostage for several hours into the morning before releasing them after the Minister's intervention. It is not certain whether they had made any specific demands that were conceded or whether they had merely carried out the act to highlight the Chechen cause. The leader of the hostage-takers is believed to be the same person who hijacked a Black Sea ferry in 1996. On that occasion as well he had released the hostages unarmed and had claimed that he had conducted the operation only to highlight the Chechen cause. In March this year, another group of Chechens had hijacked a Russian plane from Istanbul airport and diverted it to Saudi Arabia. It ended in casualties when Saudi Arabian security services stormed the plane and released the hostages.

There are believed to be about 25,000 Chechens living in Istanbul and about 5 million Turkish citizens also trace their origins to the Caucasus. Within the wider Muslim world as well there is much sympathy for the plight of the Turks. All this makes Turkey fertile ground for those who would like to mount operations in support of the Chechens. On the other hand, Turkey can ill-afford a reputation as a place where such operations can be staged with impunity. Currently undergoing one of the most severe of the economic crises that periodically grip the country, Turkey is extremely dependent on its tourism industry. A lot of interest will now be focussed on the manner in which the Turkish authorities deal with the hostage-takers.

Those who had hijacked the ship in 1996 were taken into custody but several, including the leader, had managed to escape in short order. That fuelled speculation that the Turkish authorities had been lenient and in response to this criticism some of the escapees were detained again. However, most of them were released in a later general amnesty.

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Section  : International
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