Turkish army wants Mehmet Ali Agca

Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, will be released from his Turkish jail today, his lawyer said, but the army will immediately claim him for missed military service.

Agca spent 19 years in an Italian prison for the assassination bid, but was freed in 2000 after a pardon at the late Pope's behest. He was then extradited to Turkey to serve a separate sentence in an Istanbul jail for robbery and murder.

"I will go the prison tomorrow morning to get Agca," lawyer Mustafa Demirbag said yesterday. "After the legal procedures are complete, I will go with him to the military recruitment office."

Under new Turkish laws, his time served in Italy was deducted from the 25 years left on his sentence in Turkey for the 1979 murder of a liberal newspaper editor. Agca, now 48, escaped from jail in Turkey shortly after the killing with suspected help from right-wing sympathisers in the Turkish security apparatus.

But, as every Turkish male well knows, escaping compulsory military service is not so easy. All Turkish adult males have to serve 15 months in the military, with reductions for university graduates or those Turks living abroad.

But Agca's lawyer was confident his client would escape the clutches of the military.

"In normal circumstances, he must be taken to the recruitment office," Dr Demirbag said. "But we will use all our legal rights; such as his advanced age and his medical condition."

The military, which stands out in Turkey for its efficiency, could decide on Agca's case today and if it finds in his favour, free him the same day.