Kaplan: the Turkish firebrand who made Germany his home

DUESSELDORF, Germany, Oct 12 (AFP) - The extradition of Turkish Islamic extremist Metin Kaplan to Turkey on Tuesday brought a swift end to his controversial 21-year stay in Germany.
The federal government and the city of Cologne had been trying to expel Kaplan for more than a year but were foiled by court rulings that he could face mistreatment if sent back to Turkey.
Turkey wants to try the so-called 'Caliph of Cologne' for trying to overthrow its secular government, calling for a holy war and plotting to attack a shrine to the founder of the modern Turkish state, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
The delays in Kaplan's deportation had enraged German Interior Minister Otto Schily and sparked criticism that Germany was too lenient towards "enemies of the state".
Kaplan, 51, came to Germany in 1983 and the Hilafet Devleti or "Caliphate" group was founded in Cologne the following year to keep alive the movement of the same name which was banned by Kemal Ataturk in 1924.
Kaplan was granted political asylum by Germany in 1992.
Three years later he took over the leadership of the organisation from his father Cameleddin Kaplan, nicknamed the 'Khomeini of Cologne'.
Caplan's opponent for the leadership, Ibrahim Sofu, was shot dead in Berlin in 1997 as he lay in bed between his wife and newborn baby.
His killers have never been caught but Kaplan was jailed for four years for incitement to murder and was released in May 2003.
The aims of Kaplan's organisation are the creation of an Islamic state in Turkey under the leadership of a Caliph. The group has mounted a hate campaign against Jews and the Turkish and Israeli states.
Underpinning the organisation is a belief that followers of the Caliphate should have control over the Islamic world.
Kaplan, his wife and three children lived for years on welfare payments from the German state -- 150,000 euros between 1988 and 1999 alone -- despite government estimates that the Caliphate has assets of millions of euros raised from donations, membership fees and property deals.
The organisation was banned by Schily in 2001 because it was deemed to be against the values of democracy and anti-constitutional.
Estimates of the number of the group's followers range from 800 to 1,100.
Turkey, which is predominantly Muslim, has repeatedly asked Germany to help in bringing Kaplan to trial.
Under pressure from Ankara to deport Kaplan, Schily re-doubled efforts to secure Kaplan's extradition this year.