In Legal Limbo
June 17, 2005

From your personal safety, we move on to a tough call in the war on terror. You decide if a man deserves to be called a terrorist.

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ZAHN (voice-over): Is he a threat to our security?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He clearly has connections to terrorism.

ZAHN: Or a hero who fought for freedom?

MARTIN DZURIS: We're going to start deporting people that stood up against oppression.

ZAHN: Ibrahim Parlak caught in the middle of the war on terror.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: On the "Security Watch" tonight, what appears to be a new message from Osama bin Laden's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Arabic news network Al-Jazeera ran it today. In the tape, al-Zawahiri criticizes several Muslim nations and U.S. proposals for reform in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, here in the United States, a Michigan man is in legal limbo. The Homeland Security Department calls him a terrorist. One federal judge wants him deported. But another judge just released limit from jail two weeks ago.

Keith Oppenheim has his story.

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KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the tiny town of Harbert, Michigan, you might notice a placed called Cafe Gulistan. Lately, people have been stopping by for more than a meal. They want to say "hi" to a local celebrity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you doing?

IBRAHIM PARLAK: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good to see you.

PARLAK: Good to see you.

OPPENHEIM: When Ibrahim Parlak greets diners at his restaurant, he sees more than customers. These are the people who supported him during the 10 months he was in jail.

PARLAK: See, I was -- I was just talking to Sue (ph) the day before, on Thursday night. We were talking on the phone. And, you know, we just wished each other the best, but we didn't know we were going to hug each other the next day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had no idea.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): And you were calling from the jail?

PARLAK: From the jail, yes.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In early June, Parlak was released from county jail where he been awaiting deportation. But U.S. immigration officials haven't forgotten about him.

RUSS KNOCKE, DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We first view him as someone who violated our immigration laws. And in a post-9/11 world, violation of immigration laws cannot -- cannot be tolerated in any way. He clearly has connections to terrorism.

OPPENHEIM: While the government calls him a terrorist, his supporters say he was fighting for freedom many years ago.

MARTIN DZURIS, PARLAK'S FRIEND: It's like undermining the whole foundation of the United States when you're going to start deporting people that stood up against oppression.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Do you believe that Ibrahim Parlak will be deported?

KNOCKE: We're very confident in our case.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The United States government calls him a terror threat, pointing to his ties to the PKK, an armed Kurdish nationalist group that fought against Turkey and earned a reputation for brutality. Parlak says he campaigned for Kurdish rights in the late 1980s, but never took part in violence.

PARLAK: Everything else I did, it was for a Kurdish cause, in a peaceful manner, and I didn't do anything wrong.

OPPENHEIM: In 1988, Parlak crossed from Syria into Turkey, an area where skirmishes were common. A firefight broke out between the Turks and the PKK, and two Turkish soldiers were killed. Parlak insists he had nothing to do with their deaths.

PARLAK: I happened to be near one of those fighting, that's all.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Were you armed in any way?

PARLAK: Yes, I had -- I had weapon with me.

OPPENHEIM: And did you...

PARLAK: But, again, weapons are, in that area, just, you know, common thing. It's like everybody has it.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Parlak was captured by the Turks, and, he says, tortured.

PARLAK: Not pleasant memories. Something I've been struggling to leave behind and take off of my mind for years. And I haven't been able to.

OPPENHEIM: These photographs show a family visit while Parlak was imprisoned. He says he eventually told the Turks about a hidden stash of PKK weapons and was released.

In 1991, Parlak came to America and applied for political asylum. The next year he got it, and later a green card.

Parlak worked and saved to open his restaurant, and in 1999, applied for U.S. citizenship.

(on camera): But information about Parlak's connection to the PKK was still in this files. Not only that, but in 1997, six years after Parlak came to the U.S., the official status of the PKK was changed. It was now listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization.

As a result, government investigators took another look at his case. Frustrated by delays, Parlak sued U.S. Immigration. But by now, the government that had once welcomed him was getting ready to prosecute him.

KNOCKE: We know that two individuals were killed at this particular skirmish at the Turkish border. We know that he was armed. We know that he participated in these acts of violence. We also know that throughout his time in Turkey he was fund-raising for the PKK and he was seeking ways to provide other material support to that terrorist organization. OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Last December, U.S. immigration judge, Elizabeth Hacker, ruled to deport Parlak, writing that Turkish records showed he was charged with a felony under Turkish law, analogous to a felony murder offense, something he did not reveal on his application for asylum.

But Parlak's lawyers say he had nothing to disclose and have appealed the decision.

ANNE BUCKLEITNER, ATTORNEY FOR PARLAK: I say that there's no evidence to support that. He never said that he was involved in the death of two soldiers. And even the Turkish government has never said that he was involved in the death of two soldiers.

OPPENHEIM: Parlak and his lawyers say he was charged with separatism, a political crime by a Turkish state security court that has since been abolished. But American Homeland Security officials say changes in the designation of the PKK or in the court that charged Parlak don't alter their view.

KNOCKE: Participation in a terrorist organization two years ago or 20 years, or 40 years ago, still is participation in a terrorist organization and is in violation of our immigration laws and can lead to deportation from this country.

OPPENHEIM: On June 3, Parlak came home. A different federal judge was critical of the government's case and ruled that Parlak could be released on a $50,000 bond pending his appeal because he posed neither a danger, nor flight risk.

That decision has allowed Parlak to resume his life, to play with his 8-year-old daughter, Livia (ph). But the deportation case is still very much alive. And if he is deported, it won't be to Turkey. U.S. officials say it would be to a different country. But Parlak says there is only one choice. Even if it takes years, he'll fight the government of the country that he says is the only home he really has.

PARLAK: I'm going to stay here. And I'm -- I have trust in it. I have belief in it. And it's going to happen.

It might not be easy, but it has to be, it has to be. There's no other way.

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