"Caliph of Cologne" Trial Postponed

The trial will probably generate more attention in Germany than in Turkey. Two months ago, German immigration authorities finally deported the Islamic figurehead from the country back to his native Turkey — a country he had left over two decades ago. The charges there are high treason. Turkey is accusing him of plotting to depose the country's leaders and it was supposed to happen in dramatic fashion.

In 1998, Kaplan supposedly masterminded a plot to have a small aircraft packed with explosives flown into the mausoleum where Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the country's secular founder, lies in state, as Turkish leaders were attending a memorial. In addition, the prosecution claims that followers of Kaplan would raise flags of the "caliphate" over mosques in Istanbul.

Kaplan denies the charges, something his attorney stressed before the trial.

"There is no doubt that Kaplan has adopted positions against Turkey in his speeches and writing, but he has never used violence," said defense lawyer Husnu Tuna.

Thorn in the side of the German justice system

During his 20 years of asylum in Germany, Kaplan and his father, Cameleddin Kaplan, had been under the watchful eye of the German police. Metin Kaplan took over the leadership of the "caliphate," from his father in 1995, who was nicknamed the "Khomeini of Cologne."

Later his rival for leadership, Ibrahim Sofu, was shot dead in Berlin in 1997 as he lay in bed between his wife and newborn baby. Metin Kaplan then served time in prison in Germany from 1999 to 2003 for inciting his followers to murder the rival.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schily banned the caliphate using legislation passed to crack down on Islamic extremists.

Schily and the city of Cologne sought to extradite Kaplan for more than a year following his release from jail in March 2003, but were foiled by court rulings that the defendant could face mistreatment if sent to Turkey. When they finally succeeded in October, Schily said Kaplan's deportation was a "symbol for a democracy able to defend itself."

Turkish justice system now under scrutiny

Not long ago, even mentioning that the Turkish state should be toppled would have been reason enough for a life-sentence in prison.

But the case against Kaplan is very thin. Tuna told AFP that the prosecution had no evidence to back the allegation, other than "magazines and audio and video cassettes." Prosecutors also have no pieces of indisputable evidence against Kaplan, such as finger prints. Statements from Turkish supporters of Kaplan may have to be dragged out for the trial. But they were subjected to torture in extracting the statements, according to doctors. Such charges were the reason German courts hesitated so long to expel the "caliph" from the country.

Kaplan is facing a revamped Turkish justice system that will have to be very careful not to look undemocratic in the eyes of the EU. Something that very well may make the difference between a guilty or not guilty verdict.