Unidentified men stand by the hijacked Turkish airplane Atlas Jet during the surrender of its two hijackers at Antalya's airport, August 18.

ANTALYA, Turkey, Aug. 18--Two men hijacked an airliner heading for Istanbul from northern Cyprus on Saturday, but gave themselves up and released their hostages after forcing the plane to land in southern Turkey.
Soon after landing, most of the 136 passengers were released or broke out through emergency exits, running along the wings and jumping down onto the tarmac.
The pilots also escaped but four passengers and two crew members were held hostage as negotiations took place.
Turkish Interior Minister Osman Gunes said one hijacker was Turkish and the other had a Syrian passport but could be Palestinian. Their motives were being investigated.
“One of them apparently apologized to the Turkish people,“ Gunes told reporters after the five-hour drama came to an end.
Governor Alaaddin Yuksel said 15 minutes after takeoff, one of the hijackers tried to force the cockpit door open and told passengers he was a member of Al-Qaeda.
“Police also arrested a passenger suspected of being linked to the hijackers,“ he said.
Turkish Cypriot passenger Ercan Tekkan told Reuters the hijackers said they had a bomb, but did not want to hurt anyone.
“The plane made some maneuvers and we thought the plane was going to crash ... Then the plane landed and the pilots escaped from the cockpit while the hijackers kept kicking the cockpit door,“ he said.
Some passengers fainted from a lack of oxygen, as the air system was switched off after landing, he said.
Civil Aviation chief Ali Ariduru told reporters there was no clear information on claims the hijackers had a bomb, but it appeared they had a knife.
The plane was hijacked as it brought 136 passengers from northern Cyprus--a destination popular with Turkish and foreign tourists--to Istanbul.
Hijackings are not uncommon in Turkey, where a number of radical groups ranging from Kurdish separatists to far-left militants operate, and several incidents in the last year or so have ended without casualties.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini on Saturday denounced the hijacking of a Turkish passenger plane this morning, saying it had nothing to do with Iran.
“We denounce hijacking,“ the spokesman was quoted as saying by the ministry’s Press and Information Office.
“Iranian officials are investigating with their Turkish counterparts the identity of the hijackers,“ he said.
Hosseini dismissed initial reports claiming that the hijackers had asked to head for Iran.
“None of the concerned (Iranian) officials have received such a request,“ said the spokesman, describing those reports as “fabrication and unfounded“.

TEHRAN, Aug. 18--Discord in the Muslim world has external roots and is created by enemies’ interference in regional affairs, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the Fourth Conference of Ahl-ul-Bayt World Assembly, President Ahmadinejad said, “Islam is a complete truth which is partly seen in Judaism, in Christianity and in other divine faiths.“
Criticizing the present division among divine religions, the president said the world is going through one of its most sensitive historical periods, IRNA reported.
“The international equations are rapidly changing in favor of justice and against falsehood,“ he said.
Referring to the position of arrogant world powers, he added that Western powers began deploying its forces worldwide following the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
President Ahmadinejad said the US invasion of Iraq and its occupation as well as the massacres of defenseless people of Palestine and Lebanon are clear examples of American and Zionist crimes against humanity.
Noting that the enemies are trying to sow discord among Muslims, the president said, “Despite all these efforts, they (enemies) are trapped in a quagmire from which they would hardly find a way out.“
He stressed that nobody believes in the US-style democracy and no one supports its war-mongering policies either.
Noting that Zionism was the pioneer of Western-style liberal democracy and the vanguard of occupation and aggression worldwide, he said, “The Zionist (Israeli) regime is the flag of Satan.“
The Fourth Conference of Ahl-ul-Bayt World Assembly began work on Saturday in the presence of President Ahmadinejad.
Religious and political figures from 110 countries are taking part in the two-day gathering.
The Ahl-ul-Bait World Assembly is a non-profit and non-governmental organization based in Tehran, which was established in 1990, for promoting Islamic teachings and culture.

TEHRAN, Aug. 18--An Iranian professor at the University of Washington has been selected as one of the distinguished inventors of the world under 35 years of age.
Professor Babak Amir Parviz has been selected as one of the most distinguished inventors under 35 years of age across the world, Mehr News Agency reported.
The selection process was organized by the “Technology Review“ magazine. The news will be published in the next issue of Technology Review in September.
Amir Parviz is a professor of engineering in the biology and nanotechnology departments of Washington University.

NEW DELHI, India, Aug. 18--Communist party leaders asked the prime minister on Saturday not to move forward with a landmark nuclear energy deal with the United States because they said the pact threatens India’s sovereignty.
The much-touted nuclear deal is seen as the foundation of closer India-US relations, but Indian critics argue it would give the US too much influence over their country’s foreign policy and woud undermine their weapons program, AP reported.
The deal allows the United States to ship nuclear fuel and technology to India, which in exchange would open its civilian nuclear reactors to international inspectors.
India’s military reactors would remain off-limits.
After a two-day meeting, Communist party leaders Saturday released a statement that said the agreement is “not acceptable“. The leaders objected to the deal because it would have “adverse consequences for an independent foreign policy, sovereignty and the economic interests of the people“, said Prakash Karat, president of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Karat did not threaten to withdraw support from the governing coalition, a move that could seriously threaten the stability of the ruling coalition led by the Congress party.
In a meeting Saturday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, head of the Congress party, Karat asked them not to move ahead with the deal until further discussions are held.
“It is for the Congress leadership to decide on the matter which will have serious consequences for the government and the country,“ he said.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately comment.
Karat said the four-party, Left Front alliance, which has strongly voiced its objections to the deal, will meet soon to discuss the issue.
The nuclear deal reverses three decades of American policy by allowing the US to send atomic fuel and technology to India, which has never signed international nonproliferation accords and has tested atomic weapons in the past.
The deal still has to be approved by US lawmakers. India also needs to make separate agreements with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of nations that export nuclear material.

TEHRAN, Aug. 18--Police on Saturday identified and busted a big international drug gang in Iran.
Head of the Police Drug Control Headquarters Brigadier General Hamid Reza Hosseinabadi told reporters that the gang members of largely African nationality brought drugs from the Pakistani cities of Lahore, Quetta and Karachi into Iran’s southeastern city of Zahedan and from there to Tehran after swallowing them.
Hosseinabadi said the gang then took other illicit substances to the UAE and Europe on flights from Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, Abadan, Yazd and Kish airports.
He said investigation is underway into the 90-member gang, who are from Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and other African states.
About 55 kg of drugs, including heroin, were confiscated from them, he said.
Police also confiscated a large quantity of cocaine and heroin after arresting the alleged smugglers.

When Imam Zain Al-Abedeen Ali ibn
Hussein (AS) took the mantle of Islamic leadership, times were hard on the Prophet’s Household. He had to continue the task of enlightening Muslims and fighting the propaganda of enemies after the martyrdom of his father Imam Hussein (AS), under the oppressive rule of the Bani Umayyad.
The fourth Imam’s Sahifa Al-Sajjadiya contains 54 supplications that embody lofty principles and luminous thoughts, which are relevant for all times and all people.
On the auspicious occasion of his birth anniversary, Iran Daily felicitates its Muslim readers.