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.
[1][2] The crisis ended without bloodshed after three days with the safe release of more than 219 unharmed captives; 13 people were hospitalized because of illness and injuries.
The group took over the ship as it was about to depart from the Turkish port of Trabzon en route to Eregli and then to Sochi in Russia.
The Turkish authorities, ignoring Russian demands that they act more forcefully,[1] avoided further bloodshed and liberated all hostages through constant communication and negotiations with the captors.
[5] On April 22, 2001, just before midnight, a group of 12 militants led by Tokcan (who was still on parole), seized the Swissôtel in Istanbul and took hostages to draw international attention to the new war in Chechnya.
[8] Tekir was aboard the MV Mavi Marmara as a member of İHH during the Gaza flotilla raid,[9] wounded by the IDF boarding party.