British father kicked out of Turkey on holiday as he shared name of terrorism accused ex-soldier

A British father who had arrived in Turkey for a family holiday was booted out of the country after being accused of terrorism – all because he shares a name with a former British Army soldier held on terror charges which were later dropped.

Armed military police led father-of-three Daniel Burke, 36, and his family into a room at Dalaman Airport to question him about ‘links to Syria’ – leaving his children scared and in tears.

Mr Burke, his partner, their 15-month-old daughter, his daughter, 14, and son, nine, both from a prior relationship, had flown to the south coast Turkish city of Fethiye from Newcastle for a sunny getaway.

The photocopy service supervisor from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, told The Mirror that officers ‘were hammering me’ about supposed links to Syria and asked when he had last been there.

He said they were carrying guns in holsters and were ‘very heavy handed’, upsetting his partner and children who were with him, leaving ‘my eldest in tears’.

On the front line: The other Daniel Burke, from Manchester, on patrol while battling ISIS in Syria

Authorities at the Turkish airport stamped ‘cancel’ on his passport and he was forced to fly back to England.

When Mr Burke returned home, a friend of his daughter’s had discovered that he must have been mistaken for another Daniel Burke, also aged 36 but from Manchester, who had been held on terror charges several years ago.

The ex-British Army soldier joined a Kurdish militia to fight against ISIS in Syria following the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017.

Mr Burke spent around eight months fighting against IS with the Kurdish YPG between late 2017 and June 2018 before returning to the UK.

He was investigated by counter-terrorism officers upon his return home but no further action was taken against him.

But former squaddie Mr Burke, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, was rearrested in December 2019 in Dover, Kent by West Midlands Police.

He was held in the UK for eight months on suspicion of ‘preparing acts of terrorism’ but the case was dropped in December 2020.

The Mr Burke who was kicked out of Turkey praised his namesake as a ‘freedom fighter’ and ‘not a terrorist’.

Ex-British Army soldier Daniel Burke (pictured) joined a Kurdish militia to fight against ISIS in Syria following the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017

But he said that as he battled Turkish forces ‘that’s why my name was on their list’ even though ‘I don’t look anything like him and he’ll have a different date of birth’.

He told The Mirror that he does not know how many Daniel Burkes there are but he does not want anyone else with his name to experience the same as him.

Mr Burke told the paper that holiday firm Jet2 had not apologised to him.

Jet2 told The Mirror: ‘We have no control over decisions made by Turkish immigration authorities. However, our teams did all they could to support and assist Mr Burke and his family. We have since reached out to Mr Burke directly to apologise and explain this.’