Man who tried to assassinate John Paul II wants to personally welcome pope in Turkey
The Turkish man who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981 has arrived in Iznik to welcome Pope Leo XIV, who will commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea in the Turkish town on Friday.
Mehmet Ali Agca almost killed John Paul II in the assassination attempt in the Vatican City in May 1981. He was later pardoned by the pope.
Agca was on the run from prison, after killing Milliyet newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Abdi Ipekci, on 1 February 1979.
Agca told the Turkish news agency DHA that he wanted to personally welcome the new pope, who is making his first trip abroad with this visit to Turkey.
"I say 'welcome' to the pope. I hope today or tomorrow in Iznik or Istanbul we can sit and talk for two or three minutes," Agca told local media.
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"We are happy to receive him as a guest, and we greatly value the Vatican’s contributions to world peace."
Agca claimed that his attack on John Paul II was part of a "divine plan" and that the world had failed to understand it.
"People say all sorts of wrong things about me, 'terrorist' and so on," he said.
"The real terrorist is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That satanic, Zionist monster is the true terrorist. The Vatican agrees with me on this. Therefore, we must maintain our friendship with the Vatican."
Agca said there had been much speculation about his motives for trying to kill the pope, claiming that Nato had tried to use him by falsely linking him to the Soviets.
"Those stories played a major role in the downfall of the Soviet empire," he said.
"I was deliberately part of that process, to help bring down the Soviet empire."
'That Satanic Zionist monster [Netanyahu] is the true terrorist. The Vatican agrees with me on this'
- Mehmet Ali Agca, who tried to assassinate John Paul II
Agca was captured immediately after the assassination attempt on John Paul II and sentenced to life in prison in Italy. In 2000, he was extradited to Turkey, where he served time for the murder of Ipekci and for two separate armed robberies.
He was released in 2010 after spending nearly 30 years in prison.
According to Iha news agency, Turkish intelligence will closely monitor Agca's movements in Iznik.
Pope Leo began his official visit to Turkey on Thursday, starting in Ankara, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
During his first official foreign visit, the pope will also tour the remains of an ancient basilica submerged in Lake Iznik, believed to be the site where the Council of Nicaea convened in CE 325.
One of early Christianity’s most significant gatherings, the council brought together bishops from across the Christian world to resolve key theological disputes that shaped early doctrine.
The pope and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Orthodox Church are expected to jointly commemorate the anniversary in Iznik.
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