Free Republic

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, deputy speaker of the Russian State Duma and leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party has suggested that the Soviet Union and its surrogate states would have been justified to kill Pope John Paul II who, he claims, was planted in the Vatican by the CIA to wrest Poland from its pro-Soviet rulers. In an interview with a Russian radio statio, on the day the Pope's would-be assassin, Ali Agca, was released from an Istanbul jail, Zhirinovsky was asked whether the KGB, had commissioned the attack. "There is no direct evidence necessarily of a Russian connection here, but...

It has been revealed that Turkey informed Italian officials about Mehmet Ali Agca's plan to assassinate Pope II Jean Paul one year before the incident.Turkish Interpol warned member countries by issuing a red bulletin after Agca escaped from prison in 1979 where he was sentenced to life for murdering Abdi Ipekci, editor of the moderate left-wing newspaper Milliyet; however, the countries did not pay much heed to "the red bulletin" at first. After Agca's assassination attempt, Interpol’s Secretariat General thanked the Turkish Security Directorate and held Turkey as an example for other countries.Retired Security Director Selahattin Gultepe who worked at...

ANKARA, Turkey - The Turkish gunman who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II is applying for Polish citizenship because he wants to live in the country of the late pontiff, whom he called his "spiritual brother." But the Polish Foreign Ministry said the chances of Mehmet Ali Agca getting citizenship are "minimal" since he hasn't provided any "good service" to John Paul's mostly Catholic homeland. Agca also wants to be transferred to a prison in Poland to serve the remainder of his sentence on a different conviction, lawyer Haci Ali Ozhan told The Associated Press. "He has chosen Poland...

A Turkish assassin who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981 has said he will deliver a true account of his assassination attempt after he is released from jail, his lawyers said. Mehmet Ali Agca, 52, will be set free on January 18 after spending over 28 years in Italian and Turkish prisons. "I will answer to all of these questions [about the assassination attempt] in the next weeks," Agca said in a letter released by his lawyers earlier this week. He also said that he wanted to visit Rome, meet with Pope Benedict XVI, and pray to...

THE Vatican said today it accepted the decision by a Turkish court to release Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to kill the late pope John Paul II in 1981. "With legal issues, the Holy See leaves it up to the courts with competence in these areas," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. He said the Vatican had only learned of the court's decision from press agencies and had not been given prior notice. Agca, 48, is expected to be released between Tuesday and Sunday, Turkish officials told the Anatolia news agency. He was a 23-year-old far-right militant on the...

MEHMET Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to kill pope John Paul II in 1981, was freed yesterday after almost 25 years behind bars, but may soon return to jail amid legal confusion over his early release. Less than six hours after Agca walked out of the high-security Kartal prison on Istanbul's Asian shore, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said he would order a review of the case as a debate raged among jurists over whether his release was legally sound. Mr Cicek hinted that the 48-year-old Agca, who served 19 years in Italy for shooting and seriously wounding the pope...

January 18, 2010 Gunman Mehmet Ali Agca may reveal KGB plot to kill Pope John Paul II Richard Owen The Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II nearly 30 years ago is to be released from prison today Monday and has raised hopes that he will finally shed light on whether the assassination attempt was a KGB plot. Mehmet Ali Agca, 52, said last week that he would “answer all questions” about the murder attempt after his release. When he was arrested minutes after the attack on St Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981, he claimed that...

Surfacing this week are two seemingly unrelated events, but both carry the glaring theme of the federal government’s gross intrusion into the private lives of families and into the workings of local and state governments nationwide. The long tentacles of the US Department of Justice appear to be stifling parental dissent against Common Core, while the US Department of Fish and Wildlife continues to force predatory wolf packs into already inundated Western rural communities and wilderness areas. The recent disappearance and death of two female hikers in and around the Boise, ID Craters of the Moon hiking trails are causing...