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April 30, 2006
Turkey: Retrial Of Islamist "Caliph Of Cologne" Starts, Is Adjourned
We reported on November 30 that Metin Kaplan, the so-called "Caliph of Cologne" appeared in court in Istanbul, Turkey, to be told he was to face a retrial. He had been given a life sentence on June 20, 2005 for plotting to kill members of Turkey's ruling elite in 1998. The plan had been to fly a plane into the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of secular Turkey, who overthrew the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924. The mausoleum is on a hilltop above Ankara, the capital.
In November, the judge at the Supreme Court ruled that Kaplan should face a retrial because of "deficiencies in procedures and investigation". Now, Associated Press via OhMyNews states that on Friday (28 April), Kaplan's retrial began.
Two witnesses, who had claimed that they had been tortured into making incriminating testimonies were summoned before the court. According to Kaplan's lawyer, Husnu Tuna, the trial was then adjourned until July 26. A request for Kaplan to be released from jail until the outcome of the trial was finalised was ruled out by the judge.
As we reported on November 23, Kaplan was formerly a member of an Islamist group called Hilafet Devleti ("Islamic State"). This group, also called the "Anatolian Federated Islamic State (AFID)" had been founded in Germany in 1984 by Kaplan's father Cemaleddin Kaplan. The Kaplans had fled Germany after a military coup in 1980.
When Cemaleddin Kaplan died in 1995, Metin took over, and when in 2001 the group was officially banned by German authorities, its activities were continued by followers, who set up a group called Caliphate State (Kalifatstaat).
But by that time, Kaplan was in jail. He was arrested on March 25, 1999, for killing a rival, Halil Ibrahim Sofu, in 1997. For this crime, Kaplan was imprisoned for four years. Upon his release, Kaplan continued to head Caliphate State, and to act as an imam in Cologne, where he had the nickname "The Caliph of Cologne". Caliphate State has 800 followers in Germany.
Turkey had been trying to have Kaplan extradited from Germany, but because of Turkey's death penalty this had been refused. When Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002, the procedure became more viable. In November 2004, while the squat little Caliph was in an internet cafe, he was pounced upon by police, who took him to an airport and put him on a plane to Turkey.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 30, 2006 7:30 AM
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