DATE=6/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=AGCA / TURKEY (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263479
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  Turkey's Prime Minister says the return of the 
gunman who attempted to kill Pope John Paul the Second 
could help shed light on several political murders 
that have remained unsolved for 20-years.  Amberin 
Zaman reports from Ankara.

TEXT:  Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's remarks follow 
Italy's surprise decision to extradite Mehmet Ali Agca 
to Turkey.  Italy pardoned Agca for the 1981 attempted 
assassination of Pope John Paul the Second in St 
Peter's square. 

Agca served nearly 20-years in an Italian jail and his 
motives, and those who may have ordered the killing, 
remain unknown.

Speaking to members of his Democratic Left Party in 
the Turkish Parliament, Mr. Ecevit described Agca's 
return as a significant event that could help resolve 
the mystery of some past murders in Turkey.

Prime Minister Ecevit was referring to a series of 
political murders, which took place before the 1980 
military takeover.  The military intervention was 
prompted in part by street violence between left-wing 
students and the ultra-nationalist right-wing group 
known as the Gray Wolves.

Agca is widely believed to have been a member of the 
Gray Wolves.  He was arrested and jailed after being 
convicted of involvement in the killing of a prominent 
left-wing writer, Abdi Ipekci.  But Agca succeeded in 
escaping from an Istanbul jail in November 1979.  His 
death sentence, which was handed down in absentia, was 
commuted to 10-years imprisonment.  

Agca is now in a maximum-security prison in Istanbul, 
where he will serve out the remaining years of that 
sentence.

Turkish Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk says there 
is no question of Agca being freed under a draft 
amnesty law before the Turkish parliament.  Mr. Turk 
says Agca will also face trial for an outstanding 
armed robbery charge for which he could receive a 
maximum sentence of 20-years.

But the Justice Minister says Agca will not undergo 
further interrogation over the attempted assassination 
of the pope and the Ipekci murder.  That raises 
questions about how his return can - as Prime Minister 
Ecevit put it - help illuminate the dark pages in 
Turkey's recent past.   (SIGNED)

NEB/AZ/GE/RAE 



14-Jun-2000 12:55 PM EDT (14-Jun-2000 1655 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.