Epress.am News from Armenia
The suspected Kurdish rebel who hijacked a passenger ferry heading for İstanbul on Friday after it left the northwestern port city of Izmit was ethnically Armenian, reported Turkish daily Vakit on Tuesday.
There were no casualties aboard the Kartepe, which was carrying 18 passengers on board, as well as four crew and two trainees, authorities said.
Turkish commandos in civilian clothes slipped onto a hijacked passenger ferry and posed as hostages before fatally shooting Mesut (or Mensur) Güzel, who was carrying explosives, in a 12-hour drama that ended before dawn Saturday, AP reports.
Vakit claims that Güzel was born in an old Armenian village called Kulp in Diyarbakır province, and that his grandfather’s name was Hagop.
As reported by Epress.am’s Istanbul correspondent, the article has become the subject of heated discussion and criticism by members of the Turkish press who say that to claim the hijacker was Armenian is a hate crime against Armenians.
Furthermore, some journalists and bloggers state that claiming that Armenians are connected to all criminal incidents is Vakit’s policy.