Incident Summary:
02/07/2003: During the night, Ali Ilker Urbak hijacked a plane parked at Istanbul's airport and took two flight attendants hostage. Urbak claimed to have a explosives, claiming that he had dynamite sticks. The plane was soon stormed by Turkish police, and he was subdued in less than one minute and without any weapons. All the passengers on the plane had left before Urbak entered the aircraft. The explosives he claimed to have were actually candles tied together to resemble a stack of dynamite. After he was arrested, Urbak's initial testimony to the Turkish police stated that he wanted to denounce any US military action against Iraq and gain attention for saying so. Later on, he changed his testimony and claimed he hijacked the aircraft in order to fly to Moscow to see a former Russian girlfriend. The Police claimed that he was intoxicated when arrested. He was arrested, put in jail, and was arraigned on 02/09/2003. There was no available word on the outcome of the trial.
Overview
GTD ID:
200302070003
When:
2003-02-07
Country:
Turkey
Region:
Middle East & North Africa
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Istanbul
City:
Istanbul
What
Attack Information
| Type of Attack () |
Hijacking |
| Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
| Target Type: Airports and Aircraft |
|---|
| Name of Entity |
Turkish Airlines |
| Specific Description |
Turkish Airlines aircraft at Istanbul airport |
| Nationality of Target |
Turkey |
Additional Information
| Hostages |
Yes |
| Number of Hostages |
2 |
| US Hostages |
0 |
| Hours of Kidnapping |
1 |
| Outcome |
Successful Rescue |
| Ransom |
No |
| Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
| Type |
Sub-type |
| Fake Weapons |
|
| Weapon Details |
|---|
| Urbak used candles to pretend as dynamite. |
Additional Information
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
| Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
Yes |
| Alternate Designation () |
Other Crime Type |
| Additional Information |
Anatolia news agency also claimed that Urbak had wanted to go to London after going to Moscow. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
| Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
| Unknown |
No |
Perpetrator Statistics
| Number of Perpetrators |
1 |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators |
1 |
Casualty Information
| Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
| Total Number of Injured |
0 |
| Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
| "Turkish hostage-taker wanted to protest US threats against Iraq," AFP, February 8, 2003. |
| "Turkey: Police Fail to Connect Hijacker to Terrorist," Anatolia, February 9, 2003. |
| "Man who attempted to hijack plane jailed pending trial," AP, February 9, 2003. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties
Back to Search Results