Man who shot Pope must report to police - governor

Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, must report to police until authorities decide if he is eligible for military service, NTV television reported Istanbul's Governor Muammer Guler as saying.

Agca, 48, has not been seen since he was released from an Istanbul jail on Thursday after serving more than a quarter of a century behind bars.

"If he doesn't go to the police station (daily), his situation will be considered desertion and if he doesn't go to Gata (hospital) on Monday the Pendik military office will make a decision on bringing him in," Guler said late on Friday.

Agca's lawyer Mustafa Demirbag told the Anatolian state news agency yesterday that his client would not go to the police but he would comply with the law.

Agca served 19 years in an Italian prison for the assassination attempt before being pardoned at the Pope's behest in 2000. He was then extradited to Turkey to serve a separate sentence for the murder of a Turkish newspaper editor and for robbery.

Justice Minister Cemil Cicek has said he will appeal against Agca's release. He could be jailed again for the 1979 murder of liberal newspaper editor Abdi Ipekci and face other charges.

He was jailed after killing Ipekci, but escaped with suspected help from sympathisers in the Turkish security apparatus.

In the 1970s, Agca belonged to a right-wing militant faction and also had ties to Turkey's criminal underworld.

Agca says he is now a man of peace specially chosen by God.