Deportation move splits up family

Dec 8 2006 By The Journal

A pregnant woman and her two young children who have lived in Newcastle for five years won a last-minute reprieve from being sent back to Turkey, it emerged last night.

But her husband was put on a flight, despite fears that he faces persecution because he is Kurdish.

The news that Hatin Ozdemir and children Susan, 11, and Denis, seven, had not been removed came so late that even the family's solicitors believed they had been deported.

But the lawyers are now arguing that her husband, Hidayet, should not have been removed.

The decision to take them from their home in Croydon Road, Fenham, sparked protests from family friends and asylum rights campaigners this week.

Mrs Ozdemir and her children, who attended Moorside Primary School, are being held in the Yarls Wood Immigration Detention Centre near Bedford.

A spokeswoman for solicitors NB Kohi said: "Immigration officials said she felt unwell, which was the reason she wasn't removed.

"Her removal is now not imminent, so there is no reason for her to be in the detention centre."

The family were due to be removed after Mr Ozdemir's claim for asylum was rejected. Mrs Ozdemir is now understood to have filed a separate claim in her own name.