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)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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