Reykjavik Transit

Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim on Saturday confirmed that a plane that landed in Istanbul last week was in fact a CIA plane. The plane Hurriyet had reported was believed to have been destined for a secret CIA prison. The plane passed through Istanbul on its way to the Netherlands from Azerbaijan on November 15. Yildirim, however, did not confirm that the aircraft was being used by the CIA. Ottawa said it was investigating reports that two planes linked to a CIA shell company had flown from Iceland to St. John’s in Newfoundland, on Canada’s East Coast. agencies

The aircraft was a DeHavilland Dash 8-315B, registered to Path Corporation, which landed at Sabiha Gokcen on Nov. 15 and departed the following day for Amsterdam.

see UPI story and Turkish item plus denies plus kosovo plus Turkey

The Council of Europe - the continent's main human rights watchdog - is investigating the allegations, and EU justice official Jonathan Faul last week formally raised the issue with White House and U.S. State Department representatives, Frattini said.``They told him, 'give us the appropriate time to evaluate the situation.' Right now, there is no response,'' he said.
The United States has told the European Union it needs more time to respond to media reports that the CIA set up secret jails in some European nations and transported terror suspects by covert flights, the top EU justice official. Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini also warned that that any of the 25 bloc nations found to have operated secret CIA prisons could have their EU voting rights suspended.

See Plain Dealer, and in Germany, plus Maria, plus secret, plus nations, finally EU

Pressure has grown on all sides in the past week to explain dozens of flights criss-crossing the continent by CIA planes, some suspected of delivering prisoners to jails in third countries where they may have been mistreated or tortured.

It doesn't seem like the U.S. government is helping us in this case," said Marty, who is looking into suspect flights by 31 aircraft.
"They can't confirm or deny. They say they are at war, so it will be difficult to obtain information from their side," he told reporters.
"It's a pity , because a certain transparency would be to the advantage of everybody, including the U.S."

The original Reuters, see also Barry, one more

Turkish security forces handed some prisoners over to the CIA in Istanbul, who took them on by Path Corporation's (a CIA front company) Learjet (N221SG), the Turkish press reports. The plane took off from Istanbul on March 7, 2005 and landed at Copenhagen at 0900 local time, where it remained for 23 hours before departing at 0804 on March 8 for Keflavik, Iceland and onward to Stephenville, Newfoundland and then to an unknown destination in the United States.
Keflavik records show the following movements [arrivals and departures] of N221SG:
N221SG LJ35 - Learjet 35 Lending 31.03.2002 12:32 CYYT - ST. Johns
N221SG LJ35 - Learjet 35 Flugtak 31.03.2002 13:36 LFRB - Brest (Guipavas)
N221SG LJ35 - Learjet 35 Lending 20.05.2002 14:58 EGPF - Glasgow
N221SG LJ35 - Learjet 35 Flugtak 21.05.2002 09:07 CYQX - Gander
N221SG LJ35 - Learjet 35 Lending 08.03.2005 11:13 EKCH - Copenhagen
N221SG LJ35 - Learjet 35 Flugtak 09.03.2005 12:19 CYJT - Stephenville

Turkish press reports

Reported at Schiphol

A photograph taken by a Swedish plane enthusiast has confirmed that a Hercules plane which is suspected of having been used by the CIA for prisoner transportation landed at Stockholm's Arlanda airport in May 2003. Now a Europe-wide investigation will be launched into the alleged CIA flights.The plane came from the Helsinki airport, Vanda, on May 16th. According to the Finish paper, Borgåbladet, it is owned by the company Prescott Support, which has been linked to the US government.The Finnish news agency FNB reported that the flight was registered as US embassy freight transport. According to an international agreement, the authorities do not need to provide information about the contents of the cargo.Before Vanda, the plane was in Frankfurt and flight enthusiasts have tracked it in Malaysia, the US, Iceland, Malta and the Azores.Swedish plane spotter Daniel Fall took a picture of the plane at Arlanda on May 17th 2003."This plane was extremely unusual. As far as I know it had never landed in Sweden before," said Fall to TT.Aircraft expert Lars Olausson told TT that this particular Hercules was missing a production number at maker Lockheed for the eleven years up to 1996."That could indicate that the plane was ordered by an American agency," said Olausson.Today the plane is registered with the number N8213G at the Federal Aviation Authority.
keeps flying, grilled, CIA planes, mystery

CIA airplanes have landed in Keflavík and Reykjavík at least 67 times since 2001. According to prime minister Halldór Ásgrímsson, the Icelandic government did not know about the flights.
Information from the Icelandic Flight Authority on stopovers of airplanes in Iceland was compared with information on the airplanes' registration numbers, owner history and current owners.
Airplanes operated by CIA front companies often change registration numbers and move between companies. One airplane that has landed nine times in Iceland, a MacDonald Douglas 82, was registered to the US Ministry of Justice before being registered to CIA front company Alameda Corporation.
Icelandic leaders "did not know a thing" about flights landing in Iceland. Prime minister Halldór Ásgrímsson said that, to his knowledge, the matter has not been taken up within the Icelandic government.
He said that it is ridiculous, and there is reason to condemn, [if proven true], actions such as prisoners being moved between countries in order to torture them for information. Halldór said no one could defend such conduct. He said, if it was the case [that prisoners were being moved through Iceland for torture in other countries] it was crystal clear that, like other European nations, the Icelandic government would not want to participate in any way, shape or form.
MP Helgi Hjörvar sent the Icelandic Ministry of Justice a letter requesting an official police investigation of the flights of the airplanes through Icelandic airspace. Helgi wants to know who was transported, when, from where, and their fate at the ultimate destination. Helgi also wants to know who is responsible for the flights; he wants to have them arrested if they come to Iceland again.
Hansen, however, replied to an inquiry by Red-Green Alliance's MP and defence spokesman Frank Aaen that one of the aircraft, registered as N168D, had passed through Danish airspace on 10 October this year, on its way from Iceland to Hungary.
The aircraft is owned by Devon Holding & Leasing, which US newspaper The New York Times has identified as one of seven carriers used by the CIA as fronts to conduct the flights.
On Thursday however, t a Casa CN-235 plane owned by Devon Holding and Leasing had landed late Wednesday at Reykjavik airport en route from Scotland to Canada, and left early Thursday.