Mehmet Ali Ağca (1958) was a member of both the Grey Wolves and the NATO-sponsored Counter-Guerrilla operation. He had been involved with the far-right since secondary school. During a 1979 police raid on Ali Ağca’s family home, photographs of Ağca with local Grey Wolves leaders, posters of Türkes and ultranationalist literature were found.
He rose to prominence for attempting to assassinate Pope John Paul II on 13 May 1981. Two years earlier, Ali Ağca was commissioned by the Grey Wolves to murder liberal journalist Abdi İpekçi. He was imprisoned for this killing in 1979 but escaped to Bulgaria with the help of Turkish secret agent Abdullah Çatlı, where he was called upon to kill the Pope. Çatlı is also reported to have provided Ali Ağca with the weapon he used in Rome. Ali Ağca’s escape then was only possible with the help of the Turkish intelligence services who supplied him with a false passport.
Throughout his thirty-year incarceration for attempting to murder the pontiff, Ali Ağca has contradicted himself in explaining his motives. He cited both the CIA and the Soviet Union, while on other occasions suggesting that he was “the messiah”. Released from prison in 2010 after three decades inside, Ağca cashed in on his notoriety with a variety of press and media appearances.
