Turkish Defendant Tells Court That He Provided Pistol for Agca

A Turkish defendant testified Wednesday that he provided the gun with which Mehmet Ali Agca shot Pope John Paul II. It was the first public statement corroborating Agca’s claim that he did not act alone.

Omar Bagci also gave new information about the possible involvement of at least two other Turks who are not defendants in this trial of seven men accused of complicity in the shooting. Bagci said that he gave Agca the 9-millimeter Browning pistol in Milan four days before Agca shot John Paul II on May 13, 1981, during the pontiff’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

Bagci claimed, however, that he did not know why the Turkish terrorist wanted the weapon, which he brought into Italy at Agca’s request.

Prosecutor Antonio Marini said the testimony bolstered Agca’s credibility after his irrational statements in the first two days of the trial. The terrorist’s statements to investigators led to the indictments of three Bulgarians and four Turks on charges of complicity in the attempted assassination.

Of the defendants, only one Bulgarian, Agca and two other Turks are in custody. The others are being tried in absentia.

Solidarity Link?

The prosecutor who recommended the indictments, Antonio Albano, said that Bulgaria, possibly with Soviet support, sought to kill John Paul because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland.

Agca, who is serving a life term for shooting the Pope, is on trial as well, charged with importing the gun illegally. Prosecutors at his first trial, at which he insisted he had acted alone, had not known the source of the weapon.

Marini told reporters during a recess that Bagci’s testimony showed “that Agca’s credibility is complete and absolute.”

Agca was not present during Wednesday’s session, because of a ruling by the judge, to avoid a possible change in his story to fit Bagci’s testimony.

At the Monday and Tuesday trial sessions, Agca disrupted the proceedings with such statements as “I am Jesus Christ! I am omnipotent!” He also told the court, however, that he got the gun from Bagci.

The prosecutor said Agca’s erratic courtroom behavior resembled a game he played with investigators for three years--making cryptic, seemingly irrational remarks and then providing convincing details.

The stocky, baldish Bagci, under questioning by Judge Severino Santiapichi, said Agca and three or four other Turks gave him the gun in Switzerland to carry into Italy.

He said he met Agca in the Milan railroad station on May 9, 1981, and gave him the pistol later at a restaurant.

‘Afraid of Agca’

Asked why he brought the gun to Italy, Bagci replied “I was afraid of Agca.”

The judge, the only person at an Italian trial who can ask direct questions, pressed Bagci on whether he knew what use Agca planned to make of the weapon.

“How was I to know he wanted to kill the Pope?” he said in a high-pitched voice.

Asked when he realized there was a conspiracy, Bagci replied, “At this moment.”

Two of the other Turks connected to the pistol were named in court--Erdem Eyup and Mahmot Inan. They are not charged in the case.

Vague About Roles

Marini told reporters they were not indicted because Agca had been vague about their roles. He said Bagci’s testimony was a new development in that aspect of the case.

Marini said he has requested a transcript of Bagci’s testimony and will determine whether further action is warranted against the two Turks named.