THE KGB ORGANIZED EVERYTHING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120013-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: July 18, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505120013-6
ARTICLE APPEARED TIME
0?~T PAGE 18 3ti1y 1983
World
"The KGB organized Everything"
A raucous confession from Pope John Paul AI's assailant
or months, newspapers were awash
with a spectacular charge: the attempt
on Pope John Paul II's life in 1981, de-
clared Italian authorities last winter, had
the backing of the Bulgarian secret ser-
vice, presumably acting on orders from
the Soviet Union. But the accusation de-
pended on the secret confession of the
gunman convicted of the shooting, Turk-
ish Terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, and as
the unhurried investigation into ~ his
claims continued without producing fur-
ther important revelations, interest in the
case slowly dwindled. Now the intrigue
has leaped suddenly back to life. As he
was taken from a Rome police station last
week, Agca surprised waiting reporters by
publicly implicating the Soviets in the
conspiracy. Said he: "The KGB organized
everything."
In a chaotic encounter outside the po-
lice station, the slim, unshaven Turk for
the -first time confirmed previously pub-
lished accounts of his confession to Ital-
ian investigators. Speaking in broken
English and Sawed Italian, he claimed
that he was trained as a terrorist "in Bul-
garia and in Syria." Italian officials be-
lieve that Agca. was aided in the assassi-
nation attempt by three Bulgarians: two
former employees at the Rome embassy
and Sergei Ivanov Antonov, onetime
Rome manager of the Bulgarian airline,
who is now being held in a Rome jail
pending the outcome of the investigation.
Was,Antonov involved? newsmen asked,
as Agca climbed into a police van. "I
knew Sergei," he replied. "He was my
accomplice." And the KGB? "Yes,
the KGB."
Agca's allegations provided no new
details of the plot. But by repeating in
public the. charges made in his secret con-
fession, which until now have been re-
ported only secondhand, Agca buttressed
.the Italian investigators' claim of East
bloc involvement. Agca, however, has
changed his story repeatedly in the past,
and critics of the government investiga-
tion fear that the case depends almost en-
tirely onhis possibly unreliable testimony.
To no one's surprise, Bulgarian and Soviet
officials have vehemently denied any part
in the conspiracy.
Agca's unexpected comments came
as he was being questioned by police in
connection with a peculiar kidnaping
case. Emanuela Orlandi, 15, the daughter
of a messenger in the Vatican's Apostolic
Palace, vanished on June 22 after talking
with a man in a black BMW on the street
in front of her music school in downtown
Rome. Last Wednesday, following an ap-
peal from the Pope for her safe return, the
abductors finally unveiled their startling
demand. In a call to Orlandi's family, the
kidnapers announced that the girl would
be freed only if Agca were released. The
Vatican, they added, should intercede
with the Italian government to obtain his
freedom.
Through its official newspaper,
L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican
promptly rejected a role as intermediary;
saying that the kidnapers were demand-
ing "absurd compensations." Even Agca
wanted no par[ of the deal: he is well
aware that only his Italian jailers stand
between him and possible Soviet retribu-
tion for his confessions. Said the onetime
terrorist: "I appeal to the kidnapers: free
this poor girl. I have nothing to do with
criminals. I am with Italy, with the Italian
people, with the Vatican." ^
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505120013-6