May 13th, 1981 was a day that shook the world. It was the day that there was an attempted assassination on Pope John Paul II. The day that Mehmet Ali Agca shot multiple rounds at the Pontiff. Not much was known about Mehmet Ali Agca nationally before this incident, but he did have a sinister past. Mehmet Ali Agca was born in Turkey in 1958. In his younger days he was a petty criminal who took part in gang crimes and other mischief. Later on in his life he turned to a bigger type of crime. He became a smuggler between the Turkish and Bulgarian borders. He then received terrorists and weapons training in Syria, funded by Bulgaria. This was just the beginning of Ali Agca’s criminal record. He then joined the Grey Wolves, a Turkish Ultra-Nationalistic group. While apart of this group, he assassinated Abdi Ipekci, a well known newspaper editor. This was the beginning of his infamous career. …show more content…
There was another hitman who was supposed to set off a bomb, but he got scared and never set it off, nor did he open fire. There are multiple theories for the motives of this attack. They range from the KGB hiring him, to him doing it with the intent of bringing fame to the Grey Wolves, as well as a few other theories. The strongest theory is that the planning came out of Moscow and was originated by the KGB. KGB official, Yuri Andropov, said that the Pope being anti-communist, was a threat to the Soviet reign over the eastern european countries. The pope had been trying to eradicate communist ideologies from his hometown in Poland. He did this so the citizens had the right to worship whatever they wanted to. The KGB is said to have used the Grey Wolves for plausible deniability for the culprits. During the investigation, they figured out that Agca was staying in hotels that the Bulgarian satellite of the KGB tended to stay at. It is said that the plans were made in Moscow. This is a quote from Yuri