Metin Kaplan
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Metin Kaplan (born November 14, 1952, in the Turkish province of Erzurum) is the leader of the radical Islamist movement Kalifatsstaat ("caliphate state") which is based in Cologne, Germany.
The movement's outspoken goal is to overthrow the government of Turkey and establish an Islamist state in the country. The self-styled "Caliph of Cologne" chose the city of Cologne as his residence. After being closely watched by the German Verfassungsschutz for several years, the movement was outlawed in 2001.
Kaplan, who was prosecuted as an enemy of the state in Turkey and faced the death penalty, came to Germany in 1983 as a refugee, together with his father, Cemaleddin Kaplan, who was a leading figure in Turkish islamist circles in Germany. After his father's death in 1995, Metin Kaplan became leader of the Kalifatsstaat. He is said to have ordered the murder of his rival Ibrahim Sofu in 1996. As the prosecution could only prove that he publicly stated that he would like to see Sofu dead but not that he actually gave a specific order for the murder, he was convicted only for solicitation of murder for which he spent four years in German jail.
In early May 2004, after a decision of the Oberverwaltungsgericht (Nordrhein-Westfalen's highest administrative court), Kaplan lost his refugee status and faced extradition to Turkey. Shortly after the court's decision, before German police could arrest him, Kaplan disappeared from Cologne. After the court decision was temporarily suspended, Kaplan reappeared on May 31, claiming to have been sick during his disappearance.
On October 12, the Verwaltungsgericht of Cologne decided that Kaplan could be extradited despite a pending appeal to the Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Leipzig. He was arrested in an internet cafe in Cologne and brought to the Düsseldorf airport, where a chartered Lear Jet took him to Istanbul. On arrival he was immediately arrested by Turkish police and taken to prison. This extradition case is unusual because governments usually refuse to extradite people to face trial for political crimes such as treason and espionage.
Kaplan's trial started on 20 December 2004; in June 2005 he received a sentence of life imprisonment. During the trial, Kaplan was confined to the high security prison of Tekirdağ. The main charge brought against him is plotting a terrorist attack against the Turkish government in 1998 and a plot to destroy the Anitkabir. Kaplan conceded that he believes the state of Turkey should be replaced with an Islamist state, but denies to ever have planned to resort to violent means.
