Lobster 19

for a local Bozkurt subgroup, which was led by Oral Celik and included within its ranks Caylan Mehmet Sener, his brother Hasan, and Yalcin Ozbey. (103) Since all of these figures later played important roles in Agca's terrorist escapades, there can be little doubt that Agca fell in with this group at senior high school. This was confirmed later, for when Turkish police raided Agca's family home following his arrest for the murder of Ipekci, they found photographs of Agca together with local Bozkurt and Idealist (Ulkucu) leaders, posters of Turkes, and MHP literature. (104) However, Agca may have also become involved with local elements of Abuzer Ugurlu's Turkish mafia at this time. Ugurlu came from the same town in Malatya province - Porturge - as the Sener brothers, (105) made use of several key customs posts infiltrated by the MHP to conduct his business, (106) and seems to have hired Celik and other Malatyali Bozkurtlar for various smuggling operations. (107) The alliance between organised crime and the extreme right conforms to a pattern common throughout the world, (108) and in Turkey it served the interests of both Igurlu, who needed political protection to cover his smuggling activities, (109) and the MHP which needed funding for both its overt and subversive political actions. (110) According to one generally unreliable source, Agca occasionally drove Ugurlu's trucks along heroin smuggling routes while still at school at Malatya, (111) but whether or not this is true Ugurlu was at least indirectly involved in many of the later phases of Agca's career.

In the Fall of 1976, Agca registered as a student in the University of Ankara's History and Geography program and moved into the school's rightist-controlled Besevler dormitory, although he may not have attended classes regularly. (112) Little is known about his extracurricular activities, including those of a political nature. (113) Henze argues, based on Agca's own confession and Ankara police records, that he 'avoided entanglements in agitation', (114) whereas Feroz Ahmad suggests that he participated in political violence since he was 'apparently was [already] an experienced hit-man' by the time he moved to Istanbul in 1978. (115) Although this latter claim remains to be substantiated, Agca must have been engaged in some sort of illicit activities during his stay in Ankara, for on 13 December 1977 $16,000 in Turkish lira was deposited in the Beyazit (University) branch of the Turkiye Is Bankasi in Istanbul, several months before he actually arrived there, ostensibly to attend school. (116) This was the first of many deposits made in his or his mother's name at several Turkish banks in the next few months, the source of which has yet to be clarified. (117) Agca himself claimed to have accompanied pro-communist THKO (People's Liberation Army of Turkey) leader Reslim Tore and Sedat Sirri Kadem, a Malatya schoolchum and alleged DEVSOL (Revolutionary left) militant, to train at a Palestinian guerrilla camp in Lebanon from the Spring to the Fall of 1977, (118) but there is no corroborating evidence to support this statement and many of the details seem improbable. (119) In the Fall of 1978 Agca enrolled in the Economics program at Istanbul University, one of the country's most prestigious academic institutions. There is some question about whether he actually took the examination that qualified him for entrance there, and he seems to have spent little time going to or studying for classes since school records indicate that he never completed those he registered for. (120) While in Istanbul he lived in a rightist youth hostel, (121) but again there is controversy over whether he involved himself in right-wing political violence. Sterling insists that he laid low and avoided such sordid activities, (122) but Ahmad says that students in the hostel where he lived remembered him as rightist militant who was allegedly seen shooting two leftists in the legs and concludes that 'his notoriety was such that leftists