Foreign Ministry Says Decision On Rejection Of Request For Extradition Of Kaplan Is Based On Suppositions Lacking Support

ANKARA - The Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that they regretted that the decision on release of Metin Kaplan, the leader of the Islamic Community-Denominational Vision, was ''based on suppositions lacking support.''
A statement of the Ministry said that the decision of the Dusseldorf State Court on rejection of the request for Kaplan's extradition was based on ''suppositions lacking support instead of legal reasons.''
The Ministry said that wrong and inappropriate evaluation was made regarding the independent Turkish jurisdiction in the statement that was made in the court, and it regretted all those developments.
The statement of the Ministry noted that the issues which the German court claimed regarding the independent judicial organ in Turkey, a democratic state of law, and its functions could not be accepted.
The decision of the court was not in compliance with the liabilities in international fight against terrorism made by Germany after the September 11th terrorist attacks, the statement said.
The statement pointed out that the decision of the German court also contradicted with the international solidarity and cooperation understanding.
Turkey would continue to carefully watch that process which had not yet been completed, the statement added.
(BRC-MS) 28.05.2003