SOVIET AND BULGARIAN ROLE HINTED IN SHOOTING OF THE POPE BY TURK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505130048-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 48
• Publication Date: August 17, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP9O-00552ROO0505130048-7
ARTICLE AM=
N A
O
ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
17 AUGUST 1982
Soviet and Bulgarian Role Hinted
In Shooting of the Pope by Turk
A prominent American expert on ter.
rorim chargW and Soviet ~y that the Bu
garian may
have been involved In the attempted as-
sassination of Pope John Paul U in May
11981.-
. Sterling, DIn a igest, a investigation
that Melia AH by the Digest
Agra, who was
Convicted of the assault on the Pope,
was not a right-wing assassin and had
not been acting an his own as was gener-
ally
Instead, according to Miss Sterling,
author of "The Terror ' Network,'. a
book on European terrorism. Mr. Agra,
23 years old, received eatassive support
from a Sofia based Turkish gunrunning
ring controlled by the Bulgarian secret
service.
The bead of the' ring, Abuser Ugurlu,
is now in prison in Turkey and has coo-
fessed to knowing Mr. Agra, Miss Ster-
hag said. She said. that the ring had
Wiped from a aT T urkishp after
prison and
that it was in Bulgaria that be received
the 9-millimeter Browning automatic
pistol he try to kill the Pope in
St. Peter's Square. -
False Passports Provided
Mr. Agca and an accomplice also M
calved ooumterteitTurkish in
Bulgaria, Miss Steriing~
She added that the passport provided
to Mr. Agra had been found among his
effects whey be was arrested and that
' Its Bulgarian ri taken entry stamp. attired long
up residence is Sofia,
the Bulgarian capital, was valid.
Miss Sterling cited this as one of sev.
s anal indications that Mr. Agra had of&.
cial patrons in Bulgaria. "To have
stayed in Bulgaria for some 50 days, as I
A g r a did, i . i s itself t o raise s u s .
about bus future actions, " she
wrote, as " Bulgaria often
acted
one ofthat Moscow'sandprirncipal
surrogates for terrorism subver-
sion."
The Rome.based American journalist'
said Western European officials she in-
terviewed privately believed that the
Soviet Union was behind the hidden'
forces that 'ran' Agca."
Serving aLife Seaie ee . j
Mr. Agra, who has -mentioned Bul.
Italian police, is serving a life sn~
forms attempted murder of the Pope.
Miss Sterling said that. the officials
she Interviewed assumed "that the
the spiritual father Poland's bemuse Soli.
darity trade union movement."
She said that seat -bank accounts
had been established for Mr. Agca as
early as 1977 to finance his terrorist ac-
tivities andihat in the year preceding,
his assassination attempt be spent at
least 0 '
Europe without
Miss SSterling also charged that Mr.
Agca bad associates 'of Mr. Ugurlu, who she said
not only operated his
from Sofia but had s vriilla
there as well.
"It has been established that the Bul-
garian secret police effectively-control
Ugurlu's illicit operation," she wrote.
"The long and the short of ft is that
Ugurlu worked for the Bulgarians. The
Bulgarians, In turn, do what the Rus.
sians want them todo."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP9O-00552ROO0505130048-7