Metin Kaplan (born 14 November 1952) is the leader of the

Islamic extremist Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam, is used in reference to Extremism, extremist beliefs and behaviors which are associated with the Islam, Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging ...

movement ''Kalifatsstaat'' (" Caliphate State") which is based in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Germany.

Kalifatsstaat

Kaplan was born in the Turkish province of

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

. Kaplan, who was prosecuted as an

enemy of the state An enemy of the state is a person accused of certain crimes against the state such as treason, among other things. Describing individuals in this way is sometimes a manifestation of political repression. For example, a government may purport to m ...

in Turkey and faced the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, came to Germany in 1983 as a

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

, together with his father, Cemaleddin Kaplan (also known as Cemaleddin Hocaoğlu), who was a leading figure in Turkish Islamist circles in Germany. His father ran two publications: "Tebliğ" and "Ümmet". After his father's death in 1995, Metin Kaplan became leader of the ''Kalifatsstaat'', a movement created by his father in the 1980s. The movement's stated goal is to overthrow the government of Turkey and establish an Islamist state in the country. The movement is also known as "Union of Islamic Associations and Communities" and is on Turkey's official list of terrorist organizations as "Hilafet Devleti" (literally: "Caliphate State"). The self-styled "Caliph of Cologne" chose the city of

as his residence. After being closely watched by the German

Verfassungsschutz The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (german: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungss ...

for several years, the movement was outlawed in 2001. At its highest point, the group claimed to have 800 to 1300 members, mostly in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

. The movement has published a text called "The New World Order" which contains:

Arrest

His rival İbrahim Sofu was murdered in 1997. Kaplan was convicted by a German court of

solicitation Solicitation is the act of offering, or attempting to purchase, goods and/or services. Legal status may be specific to the time or place where it occurs. The crime of "solicitation to commit a crime" occurs when a person encourages, "solicits, r ...

of murder and spent four years in jail. In May 2004, after reassurances that he would not be tortured if he was extradited to Turkey, a German court rescinded his refugee status and authorised his

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

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 31 May, claiming to have been sick during his disappearance. On 12 October, the Verwaltungsgericht of

decided that Kaplan could be extradited despite a pending appeal to the Bundesverwaltungsgericht in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. He was arrested in an

internet cafe The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

in Cologne and brought to the

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

airport, where a chartered Lear Jet took him to

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. On arrival he was immediately arrested by Turkish police and taken to prison. This

case is unusual because governments usually refuse to extradite people to face trial for

political crime In criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the ...

s such as

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

and

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

. Kaplan's trial started on 20 December 2004. In 2005, Kaplan was convicted of attempting to overthrow the constitution and treason. He was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. During the trial, Kaplan was confined to the high security prison of

Tekirdağ Tekirdağ (; see also its other names) is a city in Turkey. It is located on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara, in the region of East Thrace. In 2019 the city's population was 204,001. Tekirdağ town is a commercial centre with a harbour ...

. Turkish authorities have accused him of plotting a terrorist attack against the Turkish government in 1998 and a plot to attack the

Anıtkabir Anıtkabir is the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the leader of the Turkish War of Independence and the founder and the first President of the Republic of Turkey. It is located in Ankara and was designed by architects Professor Emin O ...

by flying a

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ...

laden with explosives into it. Kaplan conceded that he believes the state of Turkey should be replaced with an Islamist state, but denies ever having planned to resort to violent means.

Release from prison and acquittal after retrial

Kaplan's sentence was reduced to 17,5 years in prison in 2010, and he was released from prison in November 2016. He was ultimately acquitted after a retrial on 16 February 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplan, Metin 1952 births Living people People convicted of treason against Turkey People convicted on terrorism charges People extradited from Germany People extradited to Turkey Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Turkey Turkish criminals Turkish Islamists Turkish prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Turkish Sunni Muslims