Dear Friends,

After a long and hard journey, finally we got a chance to make our case in front of the Sixth Circuit.

At this point it is hard to say too much about the outcome of the hearing.   But one thing for sure is that I'm glad we made it to this day after all the difficulties we had.  It was our day.  It started good, ended good, and we all made it safely back home.  Our lawyers did a great job presenting the case, and our group in Cincinnati did a great job representing our community.  At this point, I can gladly say that we've done everything we could.  The rest is up to the law and justice.

Now it is time to wait for the decision to come.

Thank you all.  I couldn't have made it this point without you.

All the best,

Ibrahim

Ibrahim Parlak is a Turkish Kurd who has lived in the United States since 1991.   He came to America after spending 16 months in a Turkish prison, charged with the 'crime' of separatism.  These charges stemmed from his teaching the Kurdish language and culture to other Kurds, which is against the law in Turkey.  The U.S. State Department granted him political asylum in 1992, citing a real probability of persecution if he returned to Turkey.  In July of 2004 he was arrested and held for 10 months in the Calhoun County Jail in Battle Creek, Michigan.  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asked the Immigration Court to send him back to Turkey, saying he lied on his application for permanent residency.  A hearing was held in Detroit in December of 2004.   This case remains under appeal.

"Mr. Parlak is a good man and a model immigrant.   He should be given the chance to remain in the United States and continue the life that he has built for his community, his daughter and himself all these years."
U.S. Senator Carl Levin
(D - Michigan)

"Mr. Parlak should be given the chance to remain in his community and raise his daughter, without any fear of arrest or deportation. "
U.S. Representative Fred Upton
(R - 6th Congressional District, Michigan)

The Politics of Ibrahim Parlak
By ALEX KOTLOWITZ
Published: March 20, 2005
This is a story about the trickery of time. Sometimes the world changes on a dime, as it did on Sept. 11, and with the transformation of the present, the past, too, can suddenly take on a different hue. More...

Kurdish Immigrant Fights Deportation

Human rights observers cited prosecutions of political leaders associated with the Kurdish issue, and persons who criticized the military or the Turkish Government's practices as evidence that the State Security Courts often served the primarily political purpose of silencing critics of the Government. Kurdish rights activists were more likely than others to suffer torture. More...