U.S. OFFICIALS SEE A BULGARIAN LINK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85M00364R002204280149-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2007
• Sequence Number: 149
• Publication Date: January 27, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/12/19: CIA-RDP85M00364R002204280149-3
I C`~i APP ~'"
OB PAG3__
U.S. OFFICIALS SEE
A BULGARIAN 'LINK
But They Say Tie to Agca May
Not Have Involved Pope
NEW YORK TIMES
27 JAITUARY 1983
cerned about these reports," a depart- According to this theory, the Bulgar-
.azent statement said. "It is certainly ians were not aware that in 1979 Mr..
not United States policy to discourage Agca, after escaping from a Turkish
journalists or the Italian authorities prison where he was serving a sentence.
?om investigating this case." for killing a Turkish newspaper editor,!
The Evidence of Links had threatened to kill the Pope when he
toured Turkey. Later, this theory goes,
-American officials familiar with the when Mr. Agca found himself in Rome
Mr Agca and sion for the Bulgarian secret
tween
rs
b
k
e
s
on a m
evidence of lin
Bulgaria say be spent time in Sofia, the , service, he independently plotted to kill.,
Bulgarian capital, in 1980, although ex- I the Pope, without the support or knowl-
actly how long and for what purpose are edge of the Bulgarian authorities.
-not known.
' Mr. Agca, who has told the Italian au-
thorities that he received help before
the shooting of the Pope from three Bul-
The following article is based on re- -4irians living in Rome, picked out
porting by Philip Taubman and Leslie otographs of . several Bulgarians
H. Gelb and was written by Mr. Taub-from among dozens of mug shots, the
man. -American officials said.
Spec9al tolbe New York Timm ?Tbey reported that Mr. Agca also as
?
curately described the apartment one
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 - American t.-df the men occupied while in Rome.
officials familiar with developments in fiey said Italian investigators
the Italian investigation of the shooting 4jearched the apartment late last year
of Pepe John Paul II say there is con- ! and confirmed Mr. Agca's description. i
vi -icing evidence that the Pope's assail- { '.But the nature ofhhisR connection w$e
ant spent time in Bulgaria. and that be ~ the Bulgarians.
associated with several Bulgarians in told Italian investigators that the three
Rome before the assassination attempt '-$ulganaas helped him plot the assassi-
in May 1901. _ nation attempt, but as far as American
urces know, the Italian Government
The officials said, however, that it his been unable to confirm this. by
had not been proved that the relation- -One of the Bulgarians specified
ship between Mehmet All Agca, the 1 Mr. Agca, Sergei 1. Antonov, the head of
Turk convicted of shooting the Pope, Bulgarian national airline office in
and Bulgarians had anything to do with. ..Rome, was arrested by the Italian au-
the shooting. `ihorities in November and is being held
They said that most of the informa- ion suspicion of complicity in the shoot-
tion reaching Washington through intel- ing. mentioned
ligence channels had come from the -The two other Bulgarians mentioned
by Mr. Agca, Todor S. Aivasov, until re-
1?~alian Government and much of it, iK cently the chief accountant of the Bul-
Fern, was based on statements made-by garian Embassy in Rome, and Maj.
Mr. Agca after his conviction, some Pelyo K. Vasilev, who also worked in
confirmed and others not; We embassy, are in Bulgaria. Both
United States intelligence aeencies ,have denied any involvement in the
are watching developments in the cae .shooting.
%4iasely. according to senior Reagan Ad Charge by Union Leader
ministration officials, and are relying The United States has learned from
-.;~ri aril on information nrovi3e3'by Italian authorities that Luigi Scric-
z,,, n?PAr --m ntc rather than riolo an Italian union leader accused of
The Second Theory
con-
The other theory is that Mosco,P
cerned about support. Pope
II; a Pole, might give to the the Soli- I
darity union movement in Poland,
asked the Bulgarian secret service in
1979 to find someone who could some-
day assassinate the Pope.'
American Intelligence officials said
that in 1980 and 1981, when Solidarity's
influence in Poland was increasing, the
Vatican communicated with Solidarity,
leaders frequently and gave it advice
and other assistance.
American officials ruled out the pos-
sibility that Mr. Agea's connections
with Bulgaria were completely inno-
cent. They said that because of tight se-
curity in Bulgaria, it was highly im-
probable :that _Bulgarian authorities
were unaware either of Mr. A.gca's
presence in Sofia in 1980 or of his back.
ground as a convicted murderer.
. Administration Officials expressed
confidence in the judgment and abilities.
of judge Ilario Martella, the Italian
istrate who is investigating the
a
g
m
case. Several intelligence officials said
Mr. Martella had a reputation as an in- V
dependent, nonpolitical iurist.
Much of the Administration'% judg-
meet about the case is based on coif=
dente in Judge Martella. Officiicl?:=6
?! ~.
his pursuit of the case, specifically the
Bulgarian connection, indicated that
Mr. Agca's claims of Bulgarian involve-
ment should not be dismissed.
die C.I.A . according to senior intelli-
~....e n~firiole remains c enti_ . $ lit
gt,{ogrian involvement.
The Case for American Restraint
The Italian Government has urged {
the United States to use caution in
-l --~-g-
crinductine a separate American roves. -S,Ying for Bulgaria, said the three iiagtinn. inn. :Reruns were intelligence operatives.
"It is an Italian matter and it would . he Central Intelligence Agency,
,be inappropriate for the United States owever, has no independent verifica-
nce nth-! bbn that the men were associated with
telli
i
i
"
p
ge
ng p
spea
n
or
a sen
2o interfere,
t ;" Bulgarian secret service, American Administration officials
%T said: .officials said, and a senior Italain Gov- the same time,
.The Reagan Administration, which is -0nment official recently said that the acknowledged that they had their own I
the past has been quick to attack what it Italian authorities had no evidence of reasons for restraint. One reason, they
perceives as Soviet misconduct abroad, ~t~i a c onnection, said, is growing White House interest in
.has adopted a wait-and-see attitude . intelligence analysts are working on a possible summit meeting between
,:about speculation that Bulgaria and the -tin theories to explain the Agca-Bul- 1 ,President Reagan and Yuri V. Andro-
l
der
.
- -
e
e
.
the Sovi
t party
Anation attempt. 1979.
Senior Administration officialg at- .-One theory is that the Bulgarian se-
. tribute the cautious posture to, several Ts~et service hired Mr. Agcy either as an
increasing evi- in or drug trade enforcer !n an
ence5, and a including desire a to lack avoid of firm
-ddeuce arrangement that had nothing to do
..East-West tensions. with the Pope or the Soviet Union.
The State Department today mist American officials said that the Bulgar-
?missed charges that the Government ian secret service was heavily involved
.fsad tried to discourage journalists from in illegal drug trafficking in Europe and
possible Bulgarian and
a
-Soviet involvement. "We are very con-
ublicly about this matter. At
ublicly
ki
Officials said there was an under- I
standing in the Administration not to
poison the air with charges that might i
prevent such a meeting and that might
pot be substantiated later.
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 Approved For Release 2007/12/19: CIA-RDP85M00364R002204280149-3
Several former Government officials,
incl.:ding Henry A. Kissinger, Secre-
tary of State in the Nixon and Ford Ad-
ministrations, and Zbigniew Brzezin.
ski, national security adviser to Presi-
dent Carter, have said they believe that
Bulgaria and the Soviet Union were in-
volved in the assassination attempt:
cunnort for this theory has nnrnP frnrn
Pau] B. Henze. a former C.I.A. _station
thief in Turkey nn aide to.Mr. $rf~'
Mr. Henze, now a consultant to
the Rand Corporation, was hired: by
Reader's Digest after the shooting of
the Pope to investigate Mr. Agca's
background.
Mr. Henze's findings, which included
information about links between Mr.
Agca and Bulgaria as well as the Soviet
? Union's use of Bulgaria as a surrogate
to spread unrest in Turkey, were incor.
porated. in a Reader's Digest article.on
the shooting of the Pope that was writ-
ten by Claire Sterling and published last
September.
. Mr. Henze said he later sold his re-
ports to NBC News and Newsweek,
which have explored possible Bulgarian.
and Soviet involvement. Mr. iieaze
made
to this research material available
The New York Times fora fee:,
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