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DATE=6/14/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=AGCA / TURKEY (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-263479 BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN DATELINE=ANKARA CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Turkey's Prime Minister says the return of the gunman who attempted to kill Pope John Paul the Second could help shed light on several political murders that have remained unsolved for 20-years. Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara. TEXT: Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's remarks follow Italy's surprise decision to extradite Mehmet Ali Agca to Turkey. Italy pardoned Agca for the 1981 attempted assassination of Pope John Paul the Second in St Peter's square. Agca served nearly 20-years in an Italian jail and his motives, and those who may have ordered the killing, remain unknown. Speaking to members of his Democratic Left Party in the Turkish Parliament, Mr. Ecevit described Agca's return as a significant event that could help resolve the mystery of some past murders in Turkey. Prime Minister Ecevit was referring to a series of political murders, which took place before the 1980 military takeover. The military intervention was prompted in part by street violence between left-wing students and the ultra-nationalist right-wing group known as the Gray Wolves. Agca is widely believed to have been a member of the Gray Wolves. He was arrested and jailed after being convicted of involvement in the killing of a prominent left-wing writer, Abdi Ipekci. But Agca succeeded in escaping from an Istanbul jail in November 1979. His death sentence, which was handed down in absentia, was commuted to 10-years imprisonment. Agca is now in a maximum-security prison in Istanbul, where he will serve out the remaining years of that sentence. Turkish Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk says there is no question of Agca being freed under a draft amnesty law before the Turkish parliament. Mr. Turk says Agca will also face trial for an outstanding armed robbery charge for which he could receive a maximum sentence of 20-years. But the Justice Minister says Agca will not undergo further interrogation over the attempted assassination of the pope and the Ipekci murder. That raises questions about how his return can - as Prime Minister Ecevit put it - help illuminate the dark pages in Turkey's recent past. (SIGNED) NEB/AZ/GE/RAE 14-Jun-2000 12:55 PM EDT (14-Jun-2000 1655 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .