AGCA SAYS SOVIETS ORDERED ATTEMPT ON PONTIFF'S LIFE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505100068-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 68
• Publication Date: June 12, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505100068-8
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PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
12 June 1985
Agra says Soviets
ordered attempt`
on pontiff's life
By John Phillips
tfiftea reaa Intcrnattonat
ROME -Turkish terrorist Mehmet
Ali Agca, who shot Pope John Paul II
in 1981, told a Rome court yesterday
that the Soviet Union had ordered
and financed the assassination at-
tempt.
"The order to kill the Pope started
from the Soviet Embassy in Sofia,"
the capital of Bulgaria, said Agca, 27.
Agca, four other Turks and three
Bulgarians are on trial for plotting
the attack.
Agca said a Soviet diplomat helped
him plan the May 13, 1981, attack in
St. Peter's Square. It was the first
time during the tri81 that Agca -
who is already serving a life sen-
tence for shooting and seriously
wounding the. Pope -has accused
the Soviets of directing and financ-
ing the shooting.
In 1982, Agca said publicly that he
had been hired by Bulgarian agents
to shoot the Pope and that the KGB,
the Soviet secret service, knew of the
plan.
There was no immediate reaction
from the Soviet Union. The Soviets
have accused the CIA of fabricating
the notion of a ' ul~artan connec-
tion" to the Dap s OOt1niL. Bulgaria
has denied playing .any role.
Agca told the court that an official
at the Soviet Embassy in Sofia had
paid for the attack by giving money
to the leader of the Gray Wolves, a
right-wing Turkish terrorist group,
through defendant Bekir Celenk,
who is being tried in absentia. Agca
was a member of the Gray Wolves.
"The first secretary of the Soviet
Embassy paid three million West
German marks [then worth $1.2 mil-
lion] through Celenk to the head of
the Gray Wolves, Celebi," Agca said.
Musa Serdar Celebi is another Turk-
ish defendant. He is accused of act-
ing as a link between Agca and Ce-
lenk.
Agra said the Gray Wolves had
acted with the knowledge of the
three Bulgarians on trial: Sergei
Ivanov Antonov, 37, the former Rome
station chief of the Bulgarian state
airline; Todor S. Aivazov, 40, a for-
mer cashier at the Bulgarian Em-
bassy in Rome, and Zhelyo Vasilev,
42, a former assistant to the Bulgari-
an Embassy's military attache in
Rome.
"We Gray Wolves acted with the
determining complicity of Antonov,
Aivazov and Vasilev," said Agca.
Under questioning from Judge Se-
verino Santiapichi, Agcy identified
the Soviet diplomat as "Milenkov" or
"Malenkov" and gave a detailed
physical description.
Agca testified that in July 1980, he
met with the diplomat, Celenk, Aiva-
zov and his boyhood friend and co-
defendant, Oral Celik, in Room 911 of
Vitosha Hotel in Sofia to plan. the
attempt on the Polish pontiff's life.
Asked why the Soviet diplomat was
at the meeting, Agca said, "We-also
talked about attacks on NATO." -'
"We decided to eliminate the Pope
in the spring of 1981," Agca said?of
the hotel meeting. "First we had to
spend some time in Europe. Celik
and I had to carry it out. The Soviet
Embassy in Bulgaria had to help ins."
Celenk identified the Soviet diplo-
mat as the first secretary of the ?em-
bassy,and the plans were discussed
in Bulgarian and English, Agca said.
Agca described the Soviet official
he met as 5 feet 10 inches tall, "close
to blonde" and heavily built. He
wore spectacles and was aged 40 to45
years old, Agca said. "I could pick
him out from 100 common crimi-
nals," he said.
The other Turkish defendent is
Omar Bagci, alleged to be a member
of the Gray Wolves. ~ -
The trial resumes today.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505100068-8