DUESSELDORF, Oct 12: German authorities expelled a leading militant known as the Caliph of Cologne to Turkey on Tuesday, ending a year-long legal battle over his case.

The interior ministry of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said that a jet carrying Metin Kaplan had left the international airport of Duesseldorf bound for Istanbul.

Earlier Tuesday, the administrative court of Cologne ruled that despite an ongoing appeal, the 51-year-old Kaplan could still be expelled. City authorities acted swiftly, detaining Kaplan at an Internet cafe in the afternoon and taking him almost immediately afterward to the airport.

Security sources said Kaplan was being flown to Turkey in a private Lear jet, paid for by state authorities. The federal government and the city of Cologne had been battling to kick Kaplan out of the country for more than a year but have been thwarted by court rulings arguing that he could face mistreatment if sent back to Turkey.

Turkey, which is predominantly Muslim, wants to put him on trial for attempting to overthrow its secular government, calling for a holy war and plotting to attack a shrine to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey.

Kaplan, who had appealed against his expulsion to a federal court, ended a four-year prison term in Germany in March 2003 for inciting members of the Hilafet Devleti group or "Caliphate" to murder a rival Islamic leader. -AFP