Parlak and Supporters Wait for Ruling after Spirited Appeals Court Hearing

by Samuel King (king@wsbt.com)

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Parlak and Supporters Wait for Ruling after Spirited Appeals Court Hearing

A few dozen supporters of Ibrahim Parlak, some wearing T-shirts that express their support, made the trip to Cincinnati Monday, Oct. 22, 2007, for his hearing before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. (WSBT photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Oct 22, 2007 at 5:47 PM EST

Story Updated: Apr 21, 2008 at 11:15 PM EST

(WSBT) A long battle to keep a Berrien County man in the U.S. and save him from deportation could soon end.

Ibrahim Parlak's case is before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

The government ordered Parlak to leave the country for what it says are past ties to a Turkish terrorist organization.

The judges have to consider a number of issues, including whether the government used improper evidence and whether the testimony of Parlak to previous immigration courts is credible.

In the meantime, Parlak and his many supporters are eagerly awaiting the outcome.

A few dozen supporters of Ibrahim Parlak gathered across the river from the courthouse just before the hearing.

Most traveled from Berrien County to support the man they’ve come to love.

“He’s become a hero of mine,” Dan Coffey, a Parlak supporter, told WSBT News. “Because he is just able to just keep going, keep the goodness, keep the positive attitude towards things, not get angry with people, and just go on and on and on.”

Then they joined him inside the federal courthouse in downtown Cincinnati, where his attorney argued that Parlak should not be deported.

The central issue was whether the U.S. government used evidence from the Turkish Security Court. Parlak says that court used torture to find out about his ties to the PKK, a Kurdish rights group.

The government argued that Parlak should be removed because he misrepresented his ties to the group on applications for a green card and naturalization. They also said Parlak was evasive during testimony.

Parlak says the issue of torture is a difficult subject for him, and he denied that he was less than truthful or lacked credibility.

“It doesn’t feel good to hear those things over and over either,” Parlak told WSBT News outside the courthouse. “The things that you know are not true, the government repeating those things to just kind of like throw mud on someone.”

The three-judge panel vigorously questioned attorneys on both sides of this case, calling into question their arguments during a spirited 35-minute hearing.

The judges have three options:


  1. Affirm the government’s ruling and allow the deportation of Parlak to proceed
  2. Send it back to the Board of Immigration Appeals for a new trial — what Parlak’s attorneys say would likely be a fair trial because it would not include those torture allegations, or
  3. Throw the deportation order out altogether meaning Parlak would be free to stay in the United States.

It could be days or weeks before we learn the judges' decision.

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