Ibrahim Parlak: freedom rights activist and loving father

One North Central College freshman, Livia Gazzolo, has been living with her father in Michigan, and being watched by the government for all of her life. He is Ibrahim Parlak, a freedom rights activist who was arrested in Turkey.

For two years, Parlak would do things like bury Kurdish books in the watermelon fields, because the Turkish government was burning them. He eventually fled to the United States with a false passport before claiming a kind of political asylum.

He was granted asylum in the United States in 1992 under the condition that he was working to become a citizen in another country. It has been many years and applications for citizenship since then. The status change of The Kurdistan Worker’s Party to a terrorist organization has not helped Parlak’s situation.

The tension appears ever present. At elementary school, Gazzolo’s father was in prison for 10 months because of a paperwork error on his asylum application. Gazzolo recalled how she would skip school on Thursdays to go and see her father. The courtroom was the only place they were allowed to hug.

Gazzolo said, “It was a lot for a little girl to handle. Now I can understand everything that is happening.”

She now has a completely different perspective. A bill protecting Ibrahim’s residency expired two years ago. Former Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, who would put the bill up for renewal, retired.

The family has been on shaky terms with the Department of Homeland Security after finding out that there was a chance Parlak could be taken away this past Christmas Eve. Parlak was granted a 90-day stay while his case is reviewed, but how long he stays depends on how long it takes to review his case, and what the outcome of that review is. The fear is that, if Parlak is deported to Turkey, it could mean jail, or worse.

“Can’t let it affect us, ’cause that’s what they want,” Gazzolo said

Gazzolo herself has experienced travel delays that she believes were related to her father. She said that her name is on her mother’s side, specifically because her father wanted her to be able to travel without being harassed.  As she traveled to London, she was searched twice and was escorted onto the plane. After a phone call, she received a letter of apology from the airline.

As an English major with a jazz studies minor, Gazzolo said that her experiences have inspired her to write. As part of an assignment on personal beliefs, Gazzolo wrote about how love allows one to grow, rather than crumble in the face of adversity.

Throughout his time in the United States, years since Parlak arrived, a community that supports the family has grown. Parlak opened a restaurant called Café Gulistan, which serves Middle Eastern dishes.

“Friends of Ibrahim,” an organization that supports Parlak, has also grown, rallying lawmakers and helping his defense fund. The signs that the group has held over time have exhibited messages from “Free Ibrahim,” to “Ibrahim for Citizen,” to “Here to Stay.” In February, alternative rockers Wilco also played a benefit concert for Parlak in Chicago.

Something Gazzolo says that Parlak tells her is, “If you know you’re clean and someone throws mud at you, you know you can’t be marked.”