A Turkish court’s decision to free Mehmet Ali Agca is a dangerous and dramatic example of misdirected clemency. Agca is the gunman convicted in the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II and 1979 murder of a prominent Turkish editor.
Twenty-five years isn’t nearly an adequate sentence for a man who tried to kill the leader of one of the world’s largest religious groups and who had already killed another man. At 48, Agca is still young enough to be dangerous and perhaps still affiliated with the radical Gray Wolves.
The late Pope forgave Agca in 1983 – no surprise from a man of peace. Italian authorities extradited Agca to Turkey in 2000 to serve out a prison sentence for the February 1979 murder of Abdi Ipekci, pro-democracy editor of the Milliyet daily.
Agca originally was sentenced to death for that crime, but the penalty was commuted to life in prison. He became eligible for release because of recent changes in Turkish criminal law. Turkey’s justice minister, Cemil Cicek, responding to a public outcry, appealed the decision on Tuesday, asking the court to annul Agca’s release and return him to prison for at least 11 more months.
Members of the Gray Wolves, an extreme nationalist and Islamist faction, hailed his release from prison Jan. 12, but it dismayed Ipekci’s family. “I see him as our national murderer,” said the slain editor’s daughter. Milliyet headlined its Jan. 12 edition with “Day of Shame.” And so it was.
Abdi Ipekci had campaigned for democracy at a time of political turmoil in Turkey and had advocated reconciliation with neighboring Greece. That was anathema to the Gray Wolves, a fringe group of Islamist radicals who misappropriated the nickname of Kemal Ataturk, the father of the secular Turkish Republic. Agca was a member at the time Ipekci was killed driving home from work.
Agca’s attempted assassination of John Paul II has raised many questions. At one time, Agca said he had been trained by Czech and Bulgarian agents and that the former Soviet Union’s KGB played a role, claims that were believed by some though he later recanted.
Because of his support of the Polish Solidarity labor union, John Paul II was a thorn in Moscow’s side during the breakup of the Soviet Bloc. Rather than give him his freedom, the Turkish court should first require Agca to provide an honest version of his attempt on the late Pope’s life.
