The Turkish nationalist who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 was released from prison in Istanbul on Thursday, his motive for the attempted assassination still as opaque as ever.
Mehmet Ali Agca (48) walked out of Kartal prison surrounded by police after serving more than 25 years in jail in Italy and Turkey for the plot against the pope and the murder of a left-wing journalist.
As he was driven off nationalist supporters flung flowers on his car. The decision to release Agca, who has never convincingly explained his motive for shooting the late pontiff, has prompted bitter controversy in Turkey. The Justice Minister, Cemil Cicek, on Thursday said that he would review Agca’s release, saying his freedom was ”not a guaranteed right”.
Agca spent 20 years in prison in Italy, where Pope John Paul II visited him in his cell in 1983 and forgave him. After completing his sentence he was extradited to Turkey for the 1979 murder of journalist Abdi Ipekci and for bank robberies. He spent five-and-a-half years in a Turkish jail. A court ordered his early release last week.
Agca’s brother said: ”We are happy. We endlessly thank the Turkish state.”
Many investigators believe that Agca was hired by an east European communist intelligence service to assassinate the pope because of the pope’s opposition to communism. But no connection has been proved, and the late pontiff himself apparently discounted claims that the Soviet KGB and its Bulgarian counterpart plotted to kill him. A trial in 1986 of several of Agca’s alleged accomplices failed to prove a link to Bulgaria’s secret service.
Agca reported to a military recruitment centre on Thursday. He was a draft dodger in the 70s, evading Turkey’s strict military service requirement. It was not clear on Friday night whether he will now spend 15 months in the army or whether he will be considered too old.
Most Turkish newspapers commented adversely on Agca’s release, with the Millyet, for which Ipekci worked, dubbing it a day of shame. On Wednesday it carried a letter from the journalist’s daughter, Nukhet, who wrote: ”Agca is not just the murderer of my father. I see him as a national assassin.”
Other papers published a note from the gunman apparently smuggled out of jail in which he said he was a ”messiah” who intended to write a new bible reconciling Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Agca also reportedly expressed a wish to meet the new Pope, Benedict XVI.
Agca shot John Paul on May 13 1981, and was captured immediately afterwards. The pope was hit in the left hand right arm and abdomen but the bullets missed vital organs. During his years in jail Agca became a cult figure for some right-wing Turkish groups. Hundreds of his supporters turned up in the Istanbul rain yesterday to greet his release.
”He is a family friend. We love him,” Mustafa Akmercan said. Seyfi Yilmaz said: ”Mehmet Ali Agca is a role model for everyone who loves the Turkish nation.”
An equally large number of leftwing activists turned up to jeer. – Guardian Unlimited Â