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November 23, 2005
Germany: Mosque and Muslim Residences Searched
According to Nasdaq News, German authorities announced today that a mosque and twenty two homes were searched in southern Germany. The raids were connected with an investigation into a suspected Islamist group.
Police in Bavaria are investigating 21 people connected with the searches, which happened near the towns of Ingolstadt and Schwabach. No-one has been arrested yet, it seems.
Police and prosecutors believe that an organisation calling itself Caliphate State (Kalifatstaat) were carrying on the activities which a group called Hilafet Devleti had started. The federal government officially outlawed Hilafet Devleti in 2001.
Hilafet Devleti ("Islamic State") was a group with Turkish origins. It was founded in 1984 by Cemaleddin Kaplan, a Turk who fled Turkey after a military coup in 1980, according to ict.org. Also known as "Anatolian Federated Islamic State (AFID)" the group was headed by Cemaleddin's son Metin Kaplan after his death. The aim of Hilafet Devleti was to create an Islamic state in Turkey, along the lines of post-revolutionary Iran.
Metin Kaplan, the self-styled "Caliph of Cologne" was arrested on March 25, 1999, charged with setting up a terrorist cell and also murdering a rival, Halil Ibrahim Sofu, in May 1997. Kaplan had planned to blow up the Mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern secular Turkey. After his arrest, 500 people took to the streets to protest.
The Washington Times states that after serving four years in prison for killing Halil Ibrahim Sofu, Kaplan was extradited to Turkey in October 2004. During his trial in Germany, the court heard evidence that Hilafet Devleti sent funds to Muslim insurgents in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya.
The former leader of Hilafet Devleti/Caliphate State was not without arrogance. At a trial hearing in Istambul on April 4 this year (he is pictured outside the Tribunal), he said: "When I was in Germany, before the pope's death, I wrote him a letter, asking him to convert to Islam," adding that it was his "responsibility" as a Muslim to try "to bring the pope into the Islamic fold."
The banning of Kalifatstaat and Hilafet Devleti happened in the wake of 9/11, when it was discovered that the "Hamburg Cell" had involvement with the fatal hijackings. The group was the first to be banned. According to CNN.com, in December 2003, a massive swoop on the addresses of 1,000 supporters of the group took place, in an operation carried out by 5,500 security officers.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 23, 2005 10:35 AM
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