Jan 19, 2010

Papal Assassin Conspiracy Theories


I will say, for the record, this is probably only news to me. Recently, Mehmet Ali Agca, attempted assassin of Pope John Paul II, was released from a Turkish jail. Upon his release, he said, "I proclaim the end of the world. All the world will be destroyed in this century. Every human being will die in this century...I am the Christ eternal." Turkish authorities then promptly announced that Mehmet would be going to a hospital.

So what's this have to do with the region and my ignorance? I had no idea and maybe others had no idea, that the attempted assasination of Pope JP 2 was a suspected Soviet plot. And, Mehmet claims to have received two months of training in weaponry and terrorist tactics in Syria as a member of the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine paid for by the Communist Bulgarian government... Of course, nothing was ever proven. If only Mehmet or "Christ" wasn't crazy. Maybe we would know what really happened.

5 comments:

Pirates(and)Diplomats said...

Great photo of JP2, btw.

Ern said...

I do miss him.

AJK said...

ugh, Tom Clancy will be so disappointed in you. His Red Rabbit (?? I may have the wrong book) is about how a nice clean cut boy from stateside almost saved the pope. It's great, because it doesn't mention Agca at all, but invents a Bulgarian assassin as well so that Clancy doesn't deface Ozal's Great NATO Turkey.

Yeah, I used to read Clancy books...

Pirates(and)Diplomats said...

Cardinal of the Kremlin is still an excellent read.

Ern said...

I have never read a Tom Clancy novel. Sad fact.