Muhammed Tokcan

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Muhammed Tokcan (Abkhaz name Tug-ipa), (born 1969, in Gebze), was one of the hijackers arrested for the hijacking of the Avrasya in 1996.

The Black Sea hostage crisis took place January 16–19, 1996 on the Black Sea during the First Chechen War. The Panamanian-registered ferry Avrasaya with 177 passengers and 55 crew members on board was hijacked in a Turkish port of Trabzon by an international armed group, which threatened to kill the more than 100 Russian passengers unless the Russian forces ceased its attack against the Chechen separatists in the Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis.

The leader of the militants, Muhammed Tokcan, escaped from the prison in Dalaman on October 6, 1997. Tokcan was arrested again at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul on April 29, 1999, as he tried to flee to Sochi under a false passport. He was paroled on December 22, 2000. [1] On April 22, 2001, just before midnight, a group of 12 militants led by Tokcan (who was still on parole), seized the Swissotel in Istanbul and took hostages to draw attention to the new war in Chechnya. The crisis ended again without bloodshed when all gunmen surrendered after 12 hours. [2] [3] Tokan led a group of gunmen who forced their way into the lobby of the luxury hotel firing automatic rifles and pump-action shotguns and demanding an audience with Interior Minister Saadettin Tantan. [4]

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A passport is a travel document, usually issued by a country's government, that certifies the identity and nationality of its holder primarily for the purpose of international travel. Standard passports may contain information such as the holder's name, place and date of birth, photograph, signature, and other identifying information. Many countries are moving towards including biometric information in a microchip embedded in the passport, making them machine-readable and difficult to counterfeit. As of January 2019, there are over 150 jurisdictions issuing these e-Passports. Previously issued passports usually remain valid until each expires.

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References

  1. ↑ (in Turkish) Belgenet 1996
  2. ↑ (in Turkish) Swissotel İşgali Bitti Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine .
  3. ↑ Turkey hostages released, gunmen surrender
  4. ↑ "Chechen Gunmen Take Hostages at Turkish Hotel"
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