Parlak told a U.S. Immigration Court that despite being armed with a rifle, pistol and a grenade, he didn't participate in the gun battle that is a focal point of the government's case that he was linked to the Kurdish militant group PKK.

"When we were running in panic I dropped a grenade, toothpaste, food items," he said.

Parlak, 42, a Turkish Kurd, successfully crossed the border on a subsequent trip but was later captured, and served 17 months of a 4-year, 2-month sentence meted out by a Turkish court. He arrived in the U.S. in 1991 and three years later began building a successful restaurant business, Cafe Gulistan, in Harbert, Mich., a town near the Lake Michigan shore.

The U.S. government arrested Parlak in July on immigration charges for allegedly providing false answers on his green card application. The government said he also could be deported as an aggravated felon after he was re-sentenced for his role in the Turkish border incident. Three additional terrorism-related charges were added in mid-October. All are administrative charges, not criminal.

Parlak was surrounded by family and friends in the packed court while outside, about a dozen supporters waved banners supporting him. The case has triggered an outpouring of support for Parlak in Harbert. Among those who showed up in court were Parlak's tennis partner, patrons of his restaurant and the real estate agent who sold him a home.

Flanked by armed guards, Parlak received applause from supporters when he appeared in a waiting room outside the court. A slight man with streaks of gray in his dark hair, Parlak wore a light olive green suit with a striped shirt and no tie.

"He looked great considering the stress he's under," said Michele Gazzolo, the mother of Parlak's 7-year-old American-born daughter.

The government sought to show Parlak deliberately omitted key information about his past on immigration forms. Parlak's lawyers have said the government knew his history before letting him into the U.S.

Parlak said Turkish authorities tortured him and that his family was threatened before he provided a confession for his role in the border incident. He was unbowed when asked by government attorney Mark Jebson, why he refused to appeal his jail sentence.

"They got what they wanted," Parlak said. "I was not going to be a fighter. I was going to leave the war zone."

"You admit you were a fighter?" Jebson said.

"Yes, I never denied it," Parlak said. One of Parlak's attorneys, John Smietanka, later said his client was a fighter in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. or Nelson Mandela.

"There is nothing wrong in being a fighter for human rights," Smietanka said.

Under questioning, Parlak detailed the events that led to the border firefight. A one-time student activist who fled Turkey, Parlak said he attended a PKK training camp in Syria in the late 1980s. The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, is a militant group opposed to Turkey's treatment of ethnic Kurds. On two occasions in Damascus, Parlak said he met with Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader who later was jailed by Turkey.

Parlak and his small group entered Turkey with Syrian guides who were to negotiate a mine field and provide security. He said a firefight erupted behind his group.

"My thing [was] to avoid that," he said. "I wasn't going in for a gunfight."

After fleeing, Parlak entered Turkey several weeks later but was captured at a mountain hideaway. He said he tried to burn photos and diaries but later was presented with some of the evidence by Turkish authorities. After several weeks, he said, he began cooperating with those authorities and led them to buried weapons.

"I took responsibility for my own actions, defending Kurdish rights, standing against Turkish aggression," he said.

Parlak is expected to resume his testimony Tuesday. Immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker is expected to release an opinion in several weeks.