THERE was an outpouring of relief in Turkey yesterday after the surrender of pro Chechen ferry hijackers. They had seized the ferry in the port of Trabzon on Tuesday night with more than 200 hostages on board.
The hostage takers, who claimed originally to number over 50, turned out to be only four. Arrest of a fifth suspect was "later announced.
The final hours were played out in bright sunshine on the Black Sea coast but were particularly tense the militants were adamant they wanted to bring the ship to Istanbul and give a press conference. The Turkish authorities were equally determined not to allow them to bring the explosive laden Avrasya into the Bosphorus.
The Russian consulate in Istantbul said that the peaceful end of the crisis "was positive for Russo Turkish relations." Before the end President Boris Yeltsin had attacked Turkey for, not doing enough to end the drama.
The ship, anchored off the entrance of the Bosphorus for more than five hours, was surrounded by navy frigates, coast guard cutters and fishing boats. Dinghies shuttling between the shore and the Avrasya evacuated 13 hostages, including one who was shot and injured in the initial storming.
Tension and fatigue had clearly made the hijackers jumpy. At a low point in their negotiations with the Turkish authorities, they showed their anger by making the terry spin round and round and one said he was a "stick of dynamite ready to explode".
Yesterday evening they left aboard rubber dinghies and were taken to Istanbul police headquarters after initial detention at a naval military base.
The leader, Mr Muhammed Emin Tokcan, conducted negotiations by mobile telephone and through messages relayed by the "private television channels which became the hijackers loudspeaker during the crisis. On the last day one of Turkey's best known TV anchormen, Ugur Dundar, even jumped on to the deck of the Avrasva from a helicopter, "through gale force winds, and"
stayed on reporting the crisis from the inside.