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Chechen Gunman Keeps Guests Hostage In A Turkish Hotel
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A hotel guest suffering ankle injuries is accompanied by her sister and hotel officials
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ISTANBUL, May 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A gunman believed to be of Chechen origin stormed into a luxury Istanbul hotel on Saturday and held several guests hostage for 90 minutes before surrendering peacefully to police, the Anatolia news agency reported.
No one was hurt during the incident at the Marmara Hotel in the Taksim district, in the city's European quarter, which ended when police persuaded the man, who was armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, to give himself up, Istanbul police chief Hasan Ozdemir said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Our initial impression is that he is of Chechen origin," Ozdemir said, but refused to answer questions on his identity and motive.
After surrendering, the gunman was immediately taken away for questioning by anti-terror police, Anatolia said.
It quoted a senior police official as saying that the hostage-taker was Mustafa Yildirim of Chechen origin, who ran a kebab restaurant in the southern city of Karaman.
Yildirim's brother, Isa, told the agency in a telephone interview that his 29-year-old brother had previously fought against Russians in the breakaway province of Chechnya and had left home in Karaman late Friday to go to Istanbul, without explaining the reason for the trip.
"My brother could have taken the hostages to draw attention to what is happening in Chechnya, but he is actually a harmless person," Isa Yildirm said.
The gunman arrived at the hotel around 0800 GMT on Saturday and took out the rifle from his bag at the security checkpoint at the entrance and walked into the lobby, the general director of the Marmara Hotel, Cem Gundes, told a press conference.
Firing shots into the air, he took 13 guests -- four Bulgarians, three Japanese and six Turks -- hostage as police were called in and the hotel was evacuated, Gundes added. Several other guests, meanwhile, escaped on their own.
"The gunman came into the lobby, fired his gun and told us not to move. As I was close to the door, I managed to sneak out," one of the Turkish guests, Erkan Ozkan, told reporters outside the hotel.
"There was a lot of panic inside," he added. The NTV news channel had reported earlier that the hostage-taker wanted to make a press statement on the Chechen conflict after which he said he would release the hostages.
However, Gundes said they had no indication that the gunman had made a statement.
Gundes denied that lax security at the hotel had led to the incident and added: "This will undoubtedly have an adverse impact on tourism."
Turkish Tourism Minister Mustafa Tasar, meanwhile, urged hotels to step up their security. "I want to underline again the need for our hotels to review their security measures," he said in Istanbul.
Turkey has been the scene of other hostage incidents by pro-Chechen gunmen in the past few years, which have strained Ankara's ties with Moscow.
In April last year, a group of 13 heavily armed pro-Chechen gunmen took 120 people hostage in an Istanbul hotel -- to protest Russia's military action in Chechnya -- before releasing them 11 hours later and giving themselves up to police.
A month earlier, two Chechens demanding an end to Russian military operations in Chechnya hijacked an airliner traveling from Istanbul to Moscow, diverting it to Saudi Arabia.
In 1996, a pro-Chechen commando unit held a ferry with 200 people on board for three days at Trabzon, on the Black Sea, to protest Russian military action in the separatist province of Chechnya.
Moscow has long accused Ankara of turning a blind eye to Chechen rebels seeking refuge in Turkey and to Turks joining the Chechen struggle against Russia.
Ankara, however, has denied allegations that it backs Chechen guerrillas and has asserted that the Chechen conflict is Russia's internal matter, while expressing concern for its humanitarian repercussions.
Despite Ankara's official policy of non-interference, the Chechen struggle has won widespread sympathy in Turkey, particularly in Muslim circles, through the activities of Chechen associations.
Millions of Turks also trace their ancestry to the Caucasus, where Chechnya is located, reported BBC’s online news service.
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