Turkish Grey Wolf gunman wants to be baptised at the Vatican
04 / 06 / 2009
Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish national and a self-proclaimed mercernary was willing to perform any crime for the right price. On 13 May 1981, he attempted to assasinate John Paul II in Saint Peter’s Square.
The Turkish gunman, who tried to kill the late Pope John Paul II in 1981, has told an Italian newspaper he wants to convert to Catholicism. In an interview with the Italian daily, La Republica, Mehmet Ali Agca said he wants to be baptised in St. Peter’s square, where he shot and wounded the Polish pope.
Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish national, attempted to assasinate John Paul II on 13 May 1981 in Saint Peter’s Square. He was a member of the radical right-wing Turkish group, the Grey Wolves and was captured immediately after shooting the pontiff. The pope later, from his hospital bed, forgave his assailant.
“Once freed, I would like to be baptised. I would like to do it in front of media from all over the world, in the Vatican, exactly in front of St. Peter’s Square, the place where I struck Pope Wojtyla (John Paul II),” said Ali Agca in an interview published on Tuesday.
Regarding John Paul II, Ali Agca says he remembers him as a kind human being.
“I remember the pope as the most respectable and kind-hearted human being of the 21st century. I would like to pay him a tribute in front of his tomb,” he said.
When asked about how he feels in Turkey, Agca said he missed Italy, but would like to receive Portuguese citizenship
Mehmet Ali Agca was born on January 9, 1958 in Yesiltepe, Turkey. Agca was involved in crime since youth. In his teens he was a member in various street gangs and got his training in petty crime. Later he made money as a smuggler between Turkey and Bulgaria then moved on to Syria where he was received weaponry and terroristic tactical training which he claimed was funded by Bulgaria.
In 1978, while working with a far-right extremest group, the Turkish Grey Wolves, Agca killed Abdi Ipekci, the editor of a left-wing newspaper. He was caught, tried, and sentenced to life in prison but managed to escape from Kartal Maltepe Prison in November 1979 and fled to Bulgaria.
A self-proclaimed mercernary, Agca was quoted as saying he was willing to perform any crime for the right price. Soon after his arrival in Bulgaria he claimed to have been contacted by the Bulgarian Secret Service who offered him over $3 million to kill the Pope because of the Pope’s support of the Poland Solidarity movement. He also claimed that once in Rome, the assassination plot was led by Zilo Vassilev, then the Bulgarian military attache in Rome.
Many doubt the accuracy of Agca’s story and feel that his real motive for trying to killing the Pope was never disclosed.
In June 2000, president Carlo Ciampi pardoned Agca and he was permitted to return to Turkey to complete his prison sentence for the murder of Abdi Ipekci.
04 / 06 / 2009 | Tags: Grey Wolves, INTERNATIONAL, mehmet ali agca, Muslim, Pope John Paul II, Turkey |
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