Whatever happened to the Turkish hijackers?

A follow-up to yesterday's headline story AmP was covering:

"BRINDISI, Italy - Italian officials said Wednesday that they intend to prosecute a Turkish man for hijacking an airliner despite his appeal for political asylum on the grounds that he is being persecuted as a Christian in Muslim Turkey." [full story]

I think most reports about this situation should be taken with a grain of salt - especially any statements coming from Turkish officials:

"The case was marked by confusion from the start. Officials in Turkey initially said the plane had been hijacked by a group protesting the pope's upcoming visit to Turkey, but later retracted that version when it became clear that Ekinci had acted alone."

"On Wednesday, Turkey's justice minister said Ekinci was not the sole hijacker but had an accomplice. However, officials in Italy and Turkey later retracted the claim of a second hijacker."

A couple initial thoughts:

1. This man's actions are reprehensible, especially since it appears he convinced the pilots to change course with the (false) threat that he had accomplices with explosives.
2. That said, there has been so much confusion in this story that I wouldn't rule out the possibility that this man is being misrepresented by the press, and especially Turkish officials.

But what has this event shown us?

Headlines along the lines of "Plane hijacked to protest Pope's trip to Turky" were given top billing at all the major news outlets. As soon as new information came out suggesting that the hijackers were actually Christians seeking asylum from an oppressive Muslim government - news coverage quickly dried-up. So, let's review: bad things happening in the world that can be ostensibly traced back to the Pope? Headlines news. Christians trying to escape persecution from Muslims because of their beliefs? Practically ignored.

Finally, who started the (false) rumor that the hijacker was protesting Pope Benedict's trip to Turkey? It seems to have originated from Turkish telivision stations, who were interviewing the head of Turkish airlines as well as several high-ranked Turkish officials (including the Istanbul vice governor Vedat Muftuoglu who told CNN-Turk "They [the hijackers] said their action was to protest the pope’s visit.").

So where did these public officials get the idea that the hijacker was protesting the Pope's visit? Was it harmless miscommunication, irresponsible speculation, or malicious fabrication?

I wish I wasn't so pessimistic.