A WARREN Heath father facing deportation to Turkey after failing in a bid to win British citizenship today vowed to return to his young family in Suffolk.

A WARREN Heath father facing deportation to Turkey after failing in a bid to win British citizenship today vowed to return to his young family in Suffolk.

Popular restaurant worker Sadik “Kay” Kayhan is being held in the Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

Today Mr Kayhan said that he would do everything in his power to return to Warren Heath to resume his life with fiancée Samantha Neal and their eight-month-old daughter Celine.

From the detention centre he told The Evening Star: “It's like I'm in prison. I'm a bit scared because I don't know what's going to happen.

“As soon as I get all the paperwork done, if they don't send me into the army in Turkey and I get a visa then I should be back soon.”

Immigration officials arrived at the home Mr Kayhan shares with his family in Mill Road Drive on Friday and took him to a detention centre in Harwich.

He came to England after fleeing his home in Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, in January 1997, fearing for his safety after his elder brother became involved with the PKK - the Kurdish Workers Party.

He came to Ipswich and was granted asylum and in summer 2003 he met Miss Neal. He applied for British citizenship in February 2005, but was refused, as were both of his appeals, the last of which came in November.

On Monday he was handcuffed and placed inside a van and transported to Campsfield, where he is being held before his expected deportation on Monday.

Today Miss Neal, 21, said if she couldn't prevent him from being removed from the country she would travel to Turkey where the couple would marry before applying for a two-year visa which would allow Mr Kaysan to return to England.

Miss Neal said: “If he gets sent back I'm trying to sort out Celine's passport as soon as possible. We'll have to get married in Turkey and then I will apply for him to have a two-year-visa and then we'll apply for permanent residency for him.

“He is going to come back.”

Petitions in the Burger King restaurant at Ransomes Europark and in the Ipswich Kebab takeaway in Bramford Road have already attracted more than 50 signatures from people calling for Mr Kayhan to be allowed to stay.

What do you think of this story? Has your family faced a similar situation? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.