THE partner of a Tavistock businessman facing deportation from the UK has spoken of the devoted and loyal father who fears for his life if he returns to Turkey.

Alison Shearer said her world had been torn apart since Ali-Ekber Ademoglu, a Turkish Kurd, was arrested at Tavistock Police Station on June 23 and detained for deportation.

Now West Devon MP John Burnett and leading figures in Tavistock are calling for the safe return of Mr Ademoglu to the community. A petition has been started in the town.

Mr Ademoglu, who owns Ali?s Kebab Shop in King Street, Tavistock, has lived in the UK for five years. His request for British citizenship was rejected and he has been reporting to Tavistock Police Station on a weekly basis while waiting for his appeal against the decision to be heard.

Miss Shearer, who is the mother of his three-year-old son, Felix, said his detention came like ?a bolt out of the blue? and he was whisked away to Charles Cross Police Station without a chance to say a proper goodbye to his son.

?I was not allowed to visit him at Charles Cross and two days later they were all set to fly him back to Turkey from Heathrow, but he was in such a state that the pilot refused,? she said.

MP John Burnett launched an eleventh-hour bid to halt the deportation and has appealed to the Home Office to review the case.

Mr Ademoglu, 28, who is now being held at Harmondsworth Detention Centre, near Heathrow, fears he will be killed if he returns to his home country from which he fled in 1998.

?Ali was in a desperate state because he believes he will never see his family again if he goes back to Turkey,? added Miss Shearer. ?I speak to him three times a day and try to keep him upbeat but it is very hard.

?Felix saw his father being taken away and is now having night terrors. I have told him daddy has gone to see nanna and grandad but he knows something is wrong.?

Miss Shearer said she had planned to marry Mr Ademoglu after the appeal was over because they both believed he would be allowed to stay in the UK.

?Ali supports himself by having his own business and he has a son ? where is the human rights issue in all of this,?? she said. ?He is a devoted and loyal father and that should count for something.?

?He has done everything by the book by reporting to the police every week so I do not understand why immigration tried to ship him out of the country so suddenly like this. It is a nightmare.?

She said the way in which he was detained was ?heavy-handed and unnecessary?. At Tavistock Police Station, he was handcuffed and dragged out of the foyer, she claimed.

?This could have been the last chance Ali had to say goodbye to his son yet he could not even have ten minutes with him.? said Miss Sheaer.

Mr Burnett said the way in which his constituent had been treated was ?appalling?.

He said: ?I am extremely surprised that the immigration authority has taken such a draconian view of this case, especially in the light of the fact that Mr Ademoglu is a Turkish Kurd.

?There is a long history of the Turkish Government victimising and surpressing the Kurdish minority in Turkey and my constituent firmly believes his life is in jeopardy.

?He has never had a chance to put his case and it is vital all the facts are considered. This is a genuine asylum seeker.?

Tavistock Town Councillor David Stapleton has started a petition to keep Mr Ademoglu in the country.

Mr Stapleton said the Tavistock resident was contributing to the economy and doing everything that was expected of him.

?To be suddenly arrested and an attempt made to deport him like this is disgraceful,? he said. ?Presumably, it has something to do with the paranoia at the moment that the Home Office has about asylum seekers.?

Prayers will be said in Tavistock this Sunday for Mr Ademoglu and his family.

Preb John Rawlings, Vicar of Tavistock, said although he did not comment on political issues, he believed this was to do with human rights.

?I applaud and support what John Burnett and David Stapleton are trying to do. When Mr Ademoglu has kept to the rules and been a supportive member of our community it is desperately sad that he should be treated like this.

?We feel for Alison and Felix and pray that something can be done to return Ali safely to them.?

West Devon police spokesman Dave Anning said he had spoken to the officer in the case and there appeared to be a difference of opinion of the events surrounding Mr Ademoglu?s detention on June 23.

?Apparently there were other people in the station at the time so we will be in a good position to investigate what went on if there is a complaint,? he said.

Ali?s Kebab shop is still trading, Miss Shearer added.