Italy, Bulgaria recall envoys as links go sour

Press, 13 December 1982, Page 8

Italy, Bulgaria recall envoys as links go sour

NZPA Rome Italy recalled its ambassador from Bulgaria for consultations at the week-end amid growing tension over allegations that Bulgarian agents plotted to assassinate Pope John Paul 11. In Paris, the Leftist newspaper. ‘'Liberation." quoted a former Bulgarian secret service officer as saying that he was certain Bulgarian agents planned the assassination attempt against the Pope on orders from the Soviet Union. The Italian Foreign Ministry said that Mr Carlo Rossi Arnaud had been ordered home for talks by the Foreign Minister. Mr Emilio Colombo. On Thursday, the Bulgarian Ambassador. Mr Venelin Kozev. went to Sofia for what the Bulgarian Embassy also described as consultations. Vassil Dimitrov, the Bulgarian Embassy's spokesman. denied press reports that the move reflected a deterioration of relations be-

tween Italy and Bulgaria over the Papal shooting on May 13. last year. Italian officials also denied that relations were deteriorating. but Italy's Socialist Party has demanded a Parliamentary debate on the Bulgarian connection to the shooting. Senators from the governing Christian Democratic Party have sent a note to the Prime Minister. Mr Amintore Fanfani. and Mr Colombo demanding that they clarify what actions Bulgarian authorities took over the Papal attack. So far Italian investigators have implicated three Bulgarian officials in the assassination attempt by a Turkish terrorist. Mehmet Ali Agca. Five Turks are also charged as co-conspira-tors in the shooting. The State-run Bulgarian news agency. 8.T.A.. has reported that the Bulgarian Government plans to make its own investigation into the Bulgarians’ role in the shooting. The Bulgarian authorities have detained Bekir Celenek.

one of the Turkish nationals wanted by Italy. Turkish press reports have alleged that Celenek offered Agca $1 million to shoot the Pope. Besides Agca and Celenek. one of the Turkish suspects is jailed in Rome, one is imprisoned in West Germany pending extradition, one is being held in Turkey on an unrelated murder charge, and one is still being sought.

In Paris. "Liberation" reported that a former Bulgarian secret service officer. Colonel Stefan Svredlev. who defected to the West three years ago. said he did not doubt for an instant the role of the Bulgarian secret service in the attack on the Pope. Bulgarian agents had long been used by the Soviet Union to do Moscow's "dirty work." and the decision to kill the Pope must have been approved by the late Soviet President. Leonid Brezhnev and masterminded by his successor. Yuri Andropov, who was the K.G.B.'s chairman.