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Harbert restaurant
owner awaits federal deportation ruling.
HARBERT -- Who is Ibrahim Parlak?
The answer to that question can differ radically,
depending on who is asked.
His devoted supporters cover their car bumpers with
"Free Ibrahim" stickers, set up signage at
businesses or wear buttons bearing the message.
The Turkish immigrant from Harbert is a contemporary
David battling Goliath, his supporters say.
He's been called a terrorist -- or a freedom fighter
-- depending on who is talking.
A government attorney recently argued in court that
Parlak is ineligible for permanent U.S. residency,
in part because of former ties to a Turkish militant
group PKK, or the Kurdistan Workers' Party, later
known as KONGRA-GEL.
The group was placed on a list of terrorist
organizations years after he applied for political
asylum in the United States.
Was Parlak a separatist working to educate Kurds in
Turkey, or was he a terrorist in the 1980s?
Mark Jebson, an attorney for the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, claimed Dec. 6 and 7 during
deportation hearings in Detroit that Parlak is a
"complete terrorist package."
Supporters are convinced that he's a bundle of
compassion, someone who poses no security risk after
living in the United States for 17 years.
Immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker's ruling as to
whether or not he will be deported to Turkey is
pending.
Sara Scherberg, owner of the Acorn Gallery in Union
Pier, said Parlak has an amazing amount of community
support.
"I know him as a charming businessman, who visits
you at your cafe table to make sure that everything
is OK," she said.
Angela Reichert, co-owner of WOW Art Gallery in New
Buffalo, is often asked about her longtime friend.
She has signs, pins and bumper stickers with the
black and white logo. Her goal is to educate the
public.
"I was at a toll booth in Elkhart and the toll
worker asked me 'Who is Ibrahim?' " she said.
So she told her the story.
Jill Underhill, owner of Jill Underhill Gallery in
Harbert, shared her story about a community member
she knows, one who is a devoted father and a
successful restaurant owner.
Underhill recalls a morning in June when she first
opened her art gallery, located across the road from
the Cafe Gulistan, which Parlak has owned since
1994.
She looked outside to see the friendly restaurant
owner and his daughter, Livia, walking across her
yard with a bouquet of flowers.
"They wanted to wish me well with my gallery. I was
so moved," she said.
"Ibrahim will always be all of these things to me
and more -- a gentle, soft-spoken man with a kind
and generous spirit, who cares deeply about his
family, employees, friends, community and
acquaintances. This is the Ibrahim Parlak, who I
know and love," Underhill said.
After Parlak surrendered at the FBI office in St.
Joseph on July 29 life changed for his family.
Livia has waited for her dad -- who is held without
bond in the Calhoun County Correctional Center in
Battle Creek, Mich. -- to return home.
In mid-August, she arranged flowers from the cafe
gardens to sell for his legal defense fund.
Her uncle, Nick Gazzolo, understands the federal
government's struggle to protect the country from
terrorism.
But who will protect us from the protectors when
they make a mistake, he asks.
"Ibrahim's case is a travesty. The government is
trying to put his case through the current political
filter," said Gazzolo, of Sag Harbor, N.Y., about
the war on terrorism.
"Ibrahim is no threat to our country," he said. "In
fact, he's exactly the kind of person that has built
America for generations. I consider his detention as
a serious violation of his rights, and a gross
misuse of resources."
Gazzolo believes that it's easier for the government
to round up immigrants to deport them, rather than
to fight a real war on terror.
"We keep hearing that our ports aren't secure," he
said. "Our water and food supplies aren't secure.
That's the kind of things that I worry about as a
citizen. That's what I am afraid of."
http://www.southbendtribune.com
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