Editing Mehmet Ali Ağca

{{short description|Turkish assassin and Grey Wolves member (born 1958)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name               = Mehmet Ali Ağca
| image              = Mehmet Ali Ağca 02 (cropped).png
| caption            = Ağca in 2017
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1958|1|9}}
| birth_place        = [[Hekimhan]], [[Malatya]], Turkey
| alias              = 
| charge             = 
| organization       = [[Grey Wolves (organization)|Grey Wolves]] (formerly)
| conviction         = [[Abdi İpekçi]]'s murder and the [[Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II|assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II]]
| conviction_penalty = [[Life imprisonment]] in Italy (served 19 years);<br>[[Capital punishment in Turkey|Death penalty]] and various lengths of imprisonment in Turkey (served 10 years)
| conviction_status = Pardoned in Italy, paroled in Turkey
| fatalities        = Abdi İpekçi
| injuries          = Pope John Paul II
}}

'''Mehmet Ali Ağca''' ({{IPA|tr|mehˈmet ɑˈli ˈɑːdʒɑ|lang}}; born 9 January 1958) is a [[Turkish people|Turkish]] hitman and former member of the [[Grey Wolves (organization)|Grey Wolves]]. He murdered [[Abdi İpekçi]], a journalist, on 1 February 1979 and was imprisoned. He escaped from prison and travelled illegally to [[Vatican City]] on 13 May 1981 to [[Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II|assassinate Pope John Paul II]]. However, after the failed assassination attempt, he was captured and imprisoned by the Italian police.<ref>[[Robert Freedman (political scientist)|Freedman, Robert Owen]], ''The Middle East from the Iran-Contra affair to the Intifada'', (Syracuse University Press, 1991), 396; "''Demirag was known as an admirer of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk that shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981.''"</ref><ref>Weigel, George, ''Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II'', (HarperCollins Publisher, 1999), 397.</ref>

After being imprisoned for 19 years in Italy where he was visited by the Pope, he was deported to Turkey, where he served a ten-year sentence. Ağca was released from prison on 18 January 2010.<ref>{{cite news | access-date=18 January 2010 | agency=[[CNN]] | title=Man who shot pope released from prison | date=18 January 2010 | url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/18/turkey.pope.gunman/ | archive-date=25 January 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125035739/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/18/turkey.pope.gunman/ | url-status=live }}</ref> He described himself as a [[mercenary]] with no political orientation, although he is known to have been a member of the [[fascist]], Turkish ultra-nationalist [[Grey Wolves (organization)|Grey Wolves]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups|page=111|isbn=9780313324857|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b8k4rEPvq_8C&q=111|last1=Atkins|first1=Stephen E.|year=2004|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> as well as the state-sponsored [[Counter-Guerrilla]].<ref>{{cite news|title=TÜRKEI: Wie Olivenöl und Wasser - DER SPIEGEL 29/2007|newspaper=Der Spiegel|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-52263681.html|access-date=8 January 2017|last=SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg, Germany|date=15 July 2007|language=de|archive-date=17 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117092355/https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-52263681.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2014, thirty-three years after his crime, Ağca visited [[Vatican City]] to lay white roses on the tomb of the recently canonized John Paul II, and said he wanted to meet [[Pope Francis]], a request that was denied.<ref name="voanews">{{cite web|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/reu-mehmet-ali-aca-rose-vatican-tomb-pope-john-paul-ii/2575912.html|title=Pope John Paul II's Would-be Assassin Puts Roses on Tomb|date=27 December 2014|publisher=VOA News|access-date=27 December 2014|archive-date=7 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607064558/http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-mehmet-ali-aca-rose-vatican-tomb-pope-john-paul-ii/2575912.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30612677|title=Pope gunman Mehmet Ali Agca visits John Paul II's grave|work=BBC News|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=23 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923132147/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30612677|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Early life==
Mehmet Ali Ağca was born on 9 January 1958 in [[Hekimhan]] in a poor Turkish peasant family.

As a youth, he became a petty criminal and a member of numerous street gangs in his hometown. He became a smuggler between Turkey and Bulgaria. He claims to have received two months of training in weaponry and terrorist tactics in Syria as a member of the Marxist [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (PFLP) paid for by the [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Communist Bulgarian]] government, although the PFLP has denied this.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2009/06/cia-invovled-in-pope-assassination.html|title=Scrap Book - Doco - Documentation - Media Snippets: CIA involved in POPE ASSASSINATION|access-date=8 October 2014|archive-date=21 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121144616/http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2009/06/cia-invovled-in-pope-assassination.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Derin Kürtler! |url=http://www.zaman.com.tr/gundem_derin-kurtler_944419.html |website=ZAMAN |access-date=13 January 2016 |language=tr-TR |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517115450/http://www.zaman.com.tr/gundem_derin-kurtler_944419.html |archive-date=17 May 2016 }}</ref>

== Grey Wolves involvement ==
After training, Ağca went to work for the ultranationalist Turkish organization [[Grey Wolves (organization)|Grey Wolves]]. On 1 February 1979, in Istanbul, under orders from the Grey Wolves, he murdered [[Abdi İpekçi]], editor of the major Turkish newspaper ''[[Milliyet]]''. After being denounced by an informant, he was caught and sentenced to life in prison. After serving six months, he escaped with the help of [[Abdullah Çatlı]], second-in-command of the Grey Wolves, and fled to Bulgaria, which was a base of operations for the Turkish mafia. According to investigative journalist [[Lucy Komisar]], Ağca had worked on İpekçi's assassination with Çatlı, who then reportedly helped organize Ağca's escape from an Istanbul military prison. According to Komisar, some have suggested Çatlı was even involved in the Pope's assassination attempt. According to [[Reuters]], Ağca had escaped with suspected help from sympathizers in the security services.<ref name="reuters060120">{{cite news|first=Hidir|last=Goktas|title=Man who shot pope must return to jail: Turkish court|date=20 January 2006|work=Reuters|url=http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-20T175931Z_01_L20474065_RTRUKOC_0_US-TURKEY-POPE-AGCA.xml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060710034338/http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews|archive-date=10 July 2006|access-date=20 January 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> Komisar added that at the scene of the Mercedes-Benz crash where Çatlı died, he was found with a passport under the name of "Mehmet Özbay"&nbsp;— an alias also used by Ağca.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Assassins of a Pope |author-link=Lucy Komisar |first=Lucy |last=Komisar |work=Albion Monitor |date=4 June 1997 |url=http://www.monitor.net/monitor/9703b/turkeycia-sidebar.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711184329/http://www.monitor.net/monitor/9703b/turkeycia-sidebar.html |archive-date=11 July 2007 }}</ref>

==Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II==
{{Main|Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II}}
[[File:Popemobile assassination attempt John Paul II 13 may 1981 Vatican 13.jpg|thumb|The Fiat ''[[Popemobile]]'' in which [[Pope John Paul II]] was the subject of an assassination attempt. This vehicle is now in the "Carriage museum" in [[Vatican Museums|Vatican City]].]]

In 1979 ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that Ağca, whom it called "the self-confessed killer of an Istanbul newspaperman", had described the Pope as "the masked leader of the [[Crusades]]" and threatened to shoot him if he did not cancel his planned visit to Turkey,<ref name=AA2014-11-26-01a>{{cite news|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/john-paul-iis-visit-sparked-little-interest-in-turkey/97856|title=John Paul II's visit sparked little interest in Turkey|publisher=[[Anadolu Agency]]|author=A. Humeyra Atilgan|date=26 November 2014|access-date=23 February 2021|quote=... AA remembers John Paul II's 1979 visit ... reported by the New York Times. "One cause of concern was a threat to the pope by the self-confessed killer of an Istanbul newspaperman," the paper said. "Ali Agca called the pontiff 'the masked leader of the crusades' and warned that if the visit were not cancelled he would shoot the Roman Catholic leader." Mehmet Ali Agca would indeed fire four bullets into John Paul II on 13 May 1981|archive-date=8 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210408150033/https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/john-paul-iis-visit-sparked-little-interest-in-turkey/97856|url-status=live}}</ref> which went ahead in late November 1979.<ref name=VatLib-01a>{{cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/1979/travels/documents/trav_turkey.html|title=Apostolic Journey to Turkey 1979|publisher=[[Vatican Library]]|author=|date=|access-date=23 February 2021|quote=|archive-date=9 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109165716/https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/1979/travels/documents/trav_turkey.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The paper also said (on 28 November 1979) that the killing would be in revenge for the [[Grand Mosque seizure|then still ongoing attack]] on the [[Masjid al-Haram|Grand Mosque]] in [[Mecca]], which had begun on 20 November, and which he blamed on the United States or Israel.<ref name=NYT1979-11-28-01a>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/28/archives/popes-turkish-visit-gets-extra-security-death-threat-from-escaped.html|title=POPE'S TURKISH VISIT GETS EXTRA SECURITY|work=[[New York Times]]|author=Marvine Howe|date=28 November 1979|access-date=23 February 2021|quote=ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 27 — ... Threat to Kill Pope<br />One cause of concern was a threat to kill the Pope by the self‐confessed killer of an Istanbul newspaperman who escaped from a military prison Sunday. In a signed letter to the independent daily Milliyet, the paper whose editor was killed in February, the fugitive, Ali Agca, called the Pontiff "the masked leader of the Crusades," and warned that if the visit were not cancelled he would shoot the Roman Catholic leader in "revenge" for the recent attack on the Grand Mosque in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, an attack that he alleged was of American or Israeli origin.|archive-date=8 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210408150100/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/28/archives/popes-turkish-visit-gets-extra-security-death-threat-from-escaped.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Beginning in August 1980, Ağca began criss-crossing the Mediterranean region. According to his later testimony, he met with three accomplices in Rome, one a fellow Turk and the other two Bulgarians. The operation was commanded by Zilo Vassilev, the Bulgarian [[military attaché]] in Italy.{{efn|Ali Agca claimed he was under directions from the Bulgarian embassy in Rome and allegedly Stasi archives of letters from Stasi operatives to their Bulgarian counterparts seeking help in covering up traces after the attack verified this according to ''Corriere della Sera''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://lenta.ru/news/2005/03/31/kgb/ |title=Corriere della Sera: Покушение на Папу Римского подготовили КГБ и "Штази" |trans-title=Corriere della Sera: Assassination attempt on Pope Francis prepared by KGB and Stasi |language=ru |work=Лента.Ру |date=31 March 2005 |access-date=25 October 2024 |archive-date=25 October 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241025213950/https://web.archive.org/web/20100129094832/http://lenta.ru/news/2005/03/31/kgb/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>}} He said that he was assigned this mission by Turkish mafioso Bekir Çelenk in Bulgaria. ''[[Le Monde diplomatique]]'', however, has alleged that the assassination attempt was organized by Abdullah Çatlı "in exchange for the sum of 3 million marks", paid by Bekir Çelenk to the Grey Wolves.<ref>[[Martin A. Lee]], "[http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1997/03/LEE/8019.html Les liaisons dangereuses de la police turque] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105171852/http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1997/03/LEE/8019.html |date=5 November 2013 }}," ''[[Le Monde diplomatique]]'', 3 March 1997.</ref>

According to Ağca, the plan was for him and the back-up gunman Oral Çelik to open fire in [[St. Peter's Square]] and escape to the Bulgarian embassy under the cover of the panic generated by a small explosion. On 13 May they sat in the Square, writing postcards and waiting for the Pope to arrive. When the Pope passed them, Ağca fired several shots and wounded him, but was grabbed by spectators and Vatican security chief [[Camillo Cibin]]. This prevented him from finishing the assassination or escaping. Two bullets hit John Paul II, one of them lodging in his lower intestine, the other hitting his left hand. Two bystanders were also hit. Çelik panicked and fled without setting off his bomb or opening fire. The Pope survived the assassination attempt.

==Prison time, release, and rearrest==
Ağca was sentenced in July 1981 to [[life imprisonment]] in Italy for the assassination attempt. Following his shooting, Pope John Paul II asked people to "pray for my brother (Ağca), whom I have sincerely forgiven."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/5704/holy-see-defers-to-courts-on-possible-release-of-would-be-papal-assassin |title=Holy See defers to courts on possible release of would-be Papal assassin |publisher=[[Catholic News Agency]] |date=9 January 2006 |access-date=19 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708123834/http://m.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=5704 |archive-date=8 July 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1983, the Pope and Ağca met and spoke privately at the prison where Ağca was being held. The Pope was also in touch with Ağca's family over the years, meeting his mother in 1987 and his brother a decade later.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/would-be-assassin-mourns-pope/ |title=Would-Be Assassin Mourns Pope |publisher=Cbsnews.com |date=11 February 2009 |access-date=19 January 2010 |archive-date=23 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823025938/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/03/world/main685125.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> After he was imprisoned, Ağca announced that he had left Islam and converted to Christianity.<ref>Busted: Mugshots and Arrest Records of the Famous and Infamous, Thomas J. Craughwell, 2011, pp. 18, {{ISBN|9781603762694}}</ref>

Ağca's release was requested in the summer of 1983 by the alleged kidnappers of [[Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi|Emanuela Orlandi]], the young daughter of a Vatican employee, who mysteriously disappeared in [[Rome]] in June of that year.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://roma.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/22_dicembre_23/il-caso-orlandi-gregori-e-le-prove-dimenticate-l-amica-pedinata-emanuela-emigrata-in-vaticano-la-trattativa-su-agca-6a084752-dbfc-4ca3-a629-0a9faddb8xlk.shtml?refresh_ce|title=Il caso Orlandi-Gregori e le prove dimenticate: l'amica pedinata, Emanuela emigrata in Vaticano, la trattativa su Agca|publisher=www.corriere.it|date=22 December 2022}}</ref> On 9 June 1997, [[Air Malta Flight 830]] was [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacked]] by two men. After landing in [[Cologne]], the hijackers demanded the release of Ağca. He was not released and the hijackers surrendered. After serving almost 20 years of a life sentence in prison in Italy, at the request of Pope John Paul II, Ağca was pardoned by the then Italian president [[Carlo Azeglio Ciampi]] in June 2000 and deported to Turkey.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.3308559433 |title=Italy: Turkish gunman wants to be baptised at the Vatican |publisher=Adnkronos.com |access-date=19 January 2010 |archive-date=7 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307140124/http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.3308559433 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Following his extradition, he was imprisoned for the 1979 murder of [[Abdi İpekçi]] and for two bank raids carried out in the 1970s. Ağca was arrested on 25 June and incarcerated in the Maltepe Military Prison. He fled to Bulgaria on 25 November and was sentenced to death [[trial in absentia|''in absentia'']]. Ağca was extradited to Turkey in 2000 by benefiting from the Conditional Amnesty Law. This consideration granted to Ağca elicited strong reactions. Both cases were merged and tried before the Kadıköy 1st High Criminal Court. The single trial concerned the hijacking of Cengiz Aydos's taxi in 1979, robbing the Yıldırım jewellery store in Kızıltoprak on 22 March 1979 and stealing money from the Fruko soda storage on 4 April 1979. On 18 January 2000, the judges dismissed the charges because of the statute of limitations on the case filed for the jewellery store robbery and for "breach of the Firearms Act" (law no. 6136). For embezzlement and money theft Ağca was sentenced to 36 years of imprisonment. Ağca's lawyers applied for his release under Law no. 4516 on Parole and Deferral of Penalties in December 2000. Their request was denied by the 1st High Criminal Court of Kartal. The lawyers filed an appeal against this decision, but the appeals court upheld the ruling. Ağca's life sentence was reduced to 10 years under a Turkish law that shortened prison sentences if served in a foreign prison. The money-laundering conviction and 36-year sentence were overturned because of the statute of limitations for robbery, which was seven years under Turkish law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/119528-mehmet-ali-agca-released-29-years-after-attack-on-pope-john-paul-ii |title=bianet }} {{dead link|date=September 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In early February 2005, during the Pope's final illness, Ağca sent a letter to the Pope wishing him well and also warning him that the world would end soon. When the Pope died on 2 April 2005, Ağca's brother Adnan gave an interview in which he said that Ağca and his entire family were grieving, and that the Pope had been a great friend to them.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-15 |title=Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II (1981) |url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/2020/05/15/attempted-assassination-of-pope-john-paul-ii-1981/ |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=The Friday Times |language=en}}</ref>

Ağca was released on parole on 12 January 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/12/turkey.pope.gunman/index.html |access-date=26 October 2008 |first=Paula |last=Newton |agency=[[Associated Press]] |title=Man who shot pope freed |publisher=CNN |date=12 January 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060114175840/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/12/turkey.pope.gunman/index.html |archive-date = 14 January 2006}}</ref> Mustafa Demirbağ, his lawyer, explained his release as a combination of amnesty and penal reform: an amnesty in 2000 deducted 10 years from his time, the court then deducted his 20 years in the Italian prison based on a new article in the penal code, and so he became eligible for parole for good behaviour. However, a report from the French [[Agence France Presse|AFP news agency]] stated that "The Turkish judicial authorities still haven't explained exactly which legal resources he had access to", and former Minister of Justice [[Hikmet Sami Türk]], in government at the time of Ağca's extradition, claimed that, from a legal viewpoint, his release was a "serious mistake" at best, and that he should have not been freed before 2012.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mehmet Ali Agca, le Turc qui avait voulu tuer le Pape, libéré de prison |language=fr |date=12 January 2006 |access-date=12 January 2006 |publisher=[[Agence France Presse]] |url=http://www.afp.com/francais/news/stories/060112114822.7i7t8igl.html }} {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/350624/pope_john_pauls_shooter_to_be_released/ |access-date=26 October 2008 |title=Pope John Paul's Shooter to Be Released |work=redOrbit |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=9 January 2006 |first=Selcan |last=Hacaoglu}}</ref> However, on 20 January 2006, the Turkish Supreme Court ruled that his time served in Italy could not be deducted from his Turkish sentence and he was again imprisoned.<ref name=reuters060120/>

==Later developments and release==
On 2 May 2008, Ağca asked to be awarded Polish citizenship as he wished to spend the final years of his life in Poland, Pope John Paul II's country of birth.<ref>{{cite news | title = Turk who shot Pope John Paul II seeks Polish citizenship | author = Fraser, Suzan | date = 2 May 2008 | work = USA Today | agency = [[Associated Press]] | url = https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-05-02-4072011119_x.htm | access-date = 10 October 2008 | archive-date = 4 December 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081204093112/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-05-02-4072011119_x.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> Ağca stated that upon his release he wanted to visit Pope John Paul II's tomb and partner with [[Dan Brown]] on writing a book.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gunman Mehmet Ali Agca who shot Pope John Paul II seeks £3m in book deals |author=John Follain |agency=[[Times Online]] |date=10 October 2008 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6982379.ece |access-date=18 October 2008 |location=London |work=The Times |archive-date=4 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604160310/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6982379.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Ağca was released from jail on 18 January 2010. He was transferred to a military hospital in order to assess if, at 52, he was still fit for [[compulsory military service]]. The military found him unfit for military service for having "[[antisocial personality disorder]]". In a statement, he announced: "I will meet you in the next three days. In the name of God Almighty, I proclaim the end of the world in this century. All the world will be destroyed, every human being will die. I am not God, I am not son of God, I am Christ eternal."<ref>{{cite book |last=Allen |first=John L. |date=2016 |orig-year=2013 |title=The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UbjZCwAAQBAJ&q=In+the+name+of+God+Almighty%2C+I+proclaim+the+end+of+the+world+in+this+century.+All+the+world+will+be+destroyed%2C+every+human+being+will+die.+I+am+not+God%2C+I+am+not+son+of+God%2C+I+am+Christ+eternal.&pg=PA211 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Random House LLC |page=211 |isbn=9780770437374}}</ref>

Ağca visited the tomb of John Paul II on 27 December 2014.<ref name="voanews"/><ref name="bbc"/> He desired to become a Catholic priest in 2016 and go to [[Fátima, Portugal]] to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the [[Miracle of the Sun|Marian apparitions there]] ([[Our Lady of Fátima]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cathnews.com/archives/cath-news-archive/25953-john-paul-ii-s-assailant-wants-to-be-a-priest|title=CathNews - John Paul II's assailant wants to be a priest|access-date=23 August 2016|archive-date=7 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107224055/https://cathnews.com/archives/cath-news-archive/25953-john-paul-ii-s-assailant-wants-to-be-a-priest|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=={{anchor|Claims of external involvement in the assassination attempt}}Claims of external involvement in the assassination attempt==
In November 2010, Ağca accused Cardinal [[Agostino Casaroli]] of being the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on John Paul II.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-05-08 |title=John Paul II rejected assassination inquiry 'for now' |url=https://www.iwp.edu/articles/2005/05/08/john-paul-ii-rejected-assassination-inquiry-for-now/ |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=The Institute of World Politics |language=en-US}}</ref> It has also been alleged that the [[Soviet Union]]'s [[KGB]] ordered the assassination, because of John Paul II's support for the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] labor movement in [[People's Republic of Poland|Poland]]. Ağca stated this during one of his interrogations before trial.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8465527.stm|title=Bizarre story of Pope's failed assassin|date=18 January 2010|work=BBC News|access-date=28 December 2014|archive-date=30 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030180654/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8465527.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

When Ağca published his memoirs in 2013, his story changed completely,<ref>The original edition of the book is in Italian ("Mi avevano promesso il paradiso: La mia vita e la verità sull'attentato al papa", i.e. "They promised me the paradise: My life and the truth about the assassination attempt on the pope"). The Italian edition is available in electronic version for the [[Nook]]: Agca, Ali. Mi avevano promesso il paradiso: La mia vita e la verità sull'attentato al papa. Publisher GeMS (31 January 2013), {{ISBN|978-88-6190-438-5}} There is also a French translation under the name "Je devais tuer le pape" ("I had to kill the pope"), version for [[Amazon Kindle|Kindle]]: Agca, Ali (Author), Rouillard, Philippe (Translator). Je devais tuer le pape. Publisher: Archipel (13 March 2013)</ref> writing that the [[Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran|Iranian government]] and [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Khomeini]] ordered the assassination attempt on John Paul II. According to this new version of the events, Ağca received instructions and training in weapons and explosives in Iran, from [[Mohsen Rezaee|Mohsen Rezai]], under the orders of [[Ja'far Sobhani|Ayatollah Jaffar Subhani]] and Ayatollah Khomeini. In his book, Ağca acknowledges that he lied previously about the Bulgarian and Soviet connection. He stayed in [[Sofia]] for about a month but was not in contact with any Bulgarian or other intelligence officers. In transit from Turkey to Western Europe, he was delayed in Sofia because his fake [[Indian passport]] was of such poor quality that on several occasions he had to bribe officials who became suspicious. So, he waited to receive a much better-quality [[Turkish passport]] from the Grey Wolves: a genuine passport issued by the Turkish government to another person, Faruk Faruk Özgün, only the photo of Özgün was replaced by a photo of Ağca.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Yalçın |first1=Soner |title=Reis: Gladio'nun Türk Tetikçisi |last2=Yurdakul |first2=Doğan |publisher=Kırmızı Kedi |year=1997}}</ref>

When Pope John Paul II visited him in prison in Italy, on 27 December 1983 (two and a half years after the assassination attempt), Ağca recalls in his memoirs he kissed the hand of the Pope, having kissed three years earlier the hand of Khomeini in Iran, and when asked, he told John Paul II that [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] ordered the assassination. The claim was subsequently dismissed by the Vatican as a lie.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Speciale|first=Alessandro|date=February 1, 2013|title=Vatican shoots down claim that Iran backed John Paul assassination attempt|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/vatican-shoots-down-claim-that-iran-backed-john-paul-assassination-attempt/2013/02/01/bc0ae828-6caf-11e2-8f4f-2abd96162ba8_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127200649/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/vatican-shoots-down-claim-that-iran-backed-john-paul-assassination-attempt/2013/02/01/bc0ae828-6caf-11e2-8f4f-2abd96162ba8_story.html|archive-date=27 January 2021|access-date=January 20, 2021|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ağca's shooting of the Pope and possible KGB involvement is featured in [[Tom Clancy]]'s 2002 novel ''[[Red Rabbit]]'' and [[Frederick Forsyth]]'s novel ''[[The Fourth Protocol]]''. He has also been mentioned in the book ''The Third Revelation'' by [[Ralph McInerny]], and was portrayed by actors [[Christopher Buchholz|Christopher Bucholz]] in the [[RAI]] production ''Attentato al papa'', Sebastian Knapp in the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] TV biopic movie ''[[Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II]]'', Massimiliano Ubaldi in CBS's TV [[miniseries]] ''[[Pope John Paul II (miniseries)|Pope John Paul II]]'' (both 2005) and Alkis Zanis in the 2006 Canadian TV sequel ''[[Karol: The Pope, The Man]]''.

==See also==
* [[Bojinka plot]], a foiled terrorist attack that involved an assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1995 during the [[World Youth Day 1995|World Youth Day celebrations in Manila]]
* [[Juan María Fernández y Krohn]], a former Roman Catholic priest who tried to stab Pope John Paul II in 1982
* [[Rabia Kazan]], who interviewed Ali Ağca when he was in prison

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060115112603/http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/assassins/mehmet-ali-agca/ Timeline]

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1958 births]]
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[[Category:People from Hekimhan]]
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[[Category:History of the papacy]]
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