Metin Kaplan (born 14 November 1952) is the leader of the Islamic extremist movement Kalifatsstaat ("Caliphate State") which is based in Cologne, Germany.
Kaplan, who was prosecuted as an enemy of the state in Turkey and faced the death penalty, sought political asylum in Germany and traveled there in 1983 as a refugee, together with his father, Cemaleddin Kaplan (also known as Cemaleddin Hocaoğlu[1]), who was a leading figure in Islamist circles among Turkish diaspora in Germany.
The movement was previously known as the "Union of Islamic Associations and Communities"[2] and is on Turkey's official list of terrorist organizations as "Hilafet Devleti" (literally: "Caliphate State").
[4] The movement has published a text called "The New World Order" which contains:[5] Our goal is the control of Islam over everyday life.
On 12 October, the Verwaltungsgericht of Cologne decided that Kaplan could be extradited despite a pending appeal to the Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Leipzig.
He was arrested in an internet cafe in Cologne and brought to the Düsseldorf airport, where a chartered Lear Jet took him to Istanbul.