Turkey says “Welcome back” to Metin Kaplan. From AP, :
A court found an Islamic terrorist guilty of planning to crash an airplane into the mausoleum of Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and sentenced him to life in prison.
The Istanbul court convicted Metin Kaplan of charges of attempting “to overturn the constitutional order”, a charge that amounts to treason, and sentenced him to life with no possibility for parole.
Kaplan, who has said that he opposes the Turkish secular state but denies planning any terrorist acts, will appeal the ruling, his lawyer Husnu Tuna said Monday.
Kaplan lived in Cologne, Germany, until he was extradited to Turkey in October 2004. His group, the Caliphate State, calls for the overthrow of Turkey’s secular government and its replacement with an Islamic state. The group has been outlawed in Germany and Turkey.