ITALY CALLS POPE PLOT 'ACT OF WAR'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505130016-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: December 21, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505130016-2
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Defell~e Chief Save
B': Lorin .lenkins
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R0~4E. Dec. 30-Italian Defense
Minister Lelio Lagorio today called
the attempted a~sassinat.ion of Pope
.luhn Paul II last year an "act. of
war" and said it may have been a
"precautionary and alternative solu-
tion wthe invasion of Poland" di-
rected by the Bulgarian secret ser-
vices.
Basing hi- ri~arte~ un recent in-
terrogatiun- of ;rlehmet Aii Agra.
the cum?icteci Turkish assailant in
the attack on the pupa, Lagorio told
parliamera that Italian counterespi-
onage services have amasses! evi-
dente that appears to implicate Bul-
~aria.
Answering questions in parlia-
ment on a:ne alleged "Bulgarian con-
nection" that has captivated the Ital-
ian press in recent weeks, Lagorio
also suggested that Bulgarians might.
have been linked to the Red Bri-
gade:' kidnaping of L'.S. Army Brig.
Gen. James L. Dozier in Verona a
year ago. Dozier was freed six weeks
after his capture when Italian police
stormed the apartment where he was
being held.
"Ali Agca's attack on the pope is
to be considered a real act of war in
a time of peace: a precautionary and
alternative solution w the invasion
of Poland." declared the defense
minister. a leading Socialist in'the
coalition government. of Christian
Democratic Prime Minister Amin-
[ore Fanfani.
Stt~tinc ti,e; the Malian intelli-
eence ser~~ice~ haci amassed dussier~
a:~d d~~cume:~t~ ~~r. eastern European
in~,~i~ement in terrorism. anus traf-
t1.?'-.. ~ nr.noofin~? in halt'
THE ~~'A ~~H?~GTC?: PC~
21 December 1982
Lagorio said. "'T'his me*its the most
deep concern alwut the Bulgarian
connection and the international
tensions it causes."
Laguriu's dramatic allegations
came two day: after a leading mem-
ber of his Socialist Party charged
that Foreign Minister Emilio
Colombo, a Christian Democrat. had
intentionally played down the evi-
dence linking the pope's shooting tci
the Bulgarians. The charge revealed
that there were differing opinions
within the government over the val-
idity of the evidence and that these
differences could grow into a new
political dispute ?~thin Fanfani's
recently formed gwernment..
Today Goiombo admitted that
there were "grave yuestions" about
how the Bulgarian government used
its diplomatic immunity as a cover
for other activities. He said that.
there was also "an evident effor~ by
the Bulgarian government to direct
suspicions from themselves."
That was an apparent reference to
a press conference held in Sofia Fri-
day by Boyan Traikov, the head of
the Bulgarian news agency. during
which the Italian charges of Bulgar-
ian involvement. in the papal shoot-
in~ were described as "foul" and "ab-
surd."
Interior Minister Virgirio Rog-
noni, also a Christian Democrat, said
that investigations conducted by his
ministry into the pope's shooting,
internal subversion and arms traf-
ficking had also implicated Bulkar-
ian diplomats, intelligence agents
and tourists. '
Bulgaria is considered Moscow's
most loyal East European satellite,
so any accusations made against the
Bulgarians also indirectly are accu-
sations against the Soviet KGB.
The allegations of the "Bulgarian
connection" that had long been
talked about in private in some Ital-
ian intelligence circles, burst into the
limelight Nov. ?5 when Sergei
lvanoy Antonov, the head of the
Bulgarian airlines office in Rome,
was arrested on a warrant issued by
Judge Ilario >Vlartella, the chief in-
vestigator in the case.
Since then Judge Martella has
moved to lift the diplomatic immu-
niiv of two staff members of the
Bulgarian Embassy here so that they
too could be held for investigation.
Both the Bulgarians, however, had
already left Italy.
Defense Minister Lagorio' revealed
that Italian counterespionage ser-
vices detected a sudden increase in
coded messages between Sofia and
Italy at the time of the popes shuot-
in~ as well as when Gen. Dozier was
freed.
"This was interpreted as the result
of inactive Bulgarian agents in Italy
being activated,"-Lagorio explained.
The extent. to which the Bulgarian
government has gone to try ~ to "dis-
credit" Agca's alleged prison confes-
sions was another suspicious sign,
the defense minister said.
Foreign Minister Colombo .said
that because of the allegations of
Bulgarian activities here the.Italian
government had imposed new visa
restrictions on .Bulgarians seeking to
travel t.o Italy and was also reviewing
the size and function of the Bulgar-
ian Embassy in Rome. Earlier this
month the Italian ambas.5ador to
Sofia was recalled fAr consultations
because of the groa~ng rift between .
Italy and Bulgaria over the case.
Colombo insisted, however, that
Italy would not act peremptorily on
the case and would act only on the
basis of solid facts:
The recent spate of Italian press
repnrt~ nn Agca g alleged connection
with the Bulgarians assert. -that a
Turkish terrorist with links .to the.
Bulgarians, Oral Celik, helped Agcy
escape from prison in. Turkey and
make his ?way to Bulgaria in 1979.
Agca, a ,?rigltt-wing extremist, had
been in ~~ail for the assassination of a
prominent left-wing Turkish editor.
In -Sofia, he met another Turk,
Bekir Celenk, whom Italian police,
according to the Italian newspapers,
have linked w a vast arms and drug
smuggling operation that stretches
from Italy through the Balkans to
Turkey.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505130016-2