Campaigners have accompanied the family to Germany

Yurdugal Ay and her four children, aged between seven and 14, were returned to Germany on a flight on Tuesday morning.

They had previously been lodged at the controversial Dungavel Detention Centre in Strathaven, Lanarkshire, for a year after living for over three years in Northfleet, Kent.

The family have now registered with German authorities and have been given a month to remain in the country, during which time their application for asylum will be considered.

Lawyers acting for the family, who are currently staying with relatives, also plan to appeal against the decision by the Home Office in Britain to deport them.

Both actions will be brought as last-ditch attempts to prevent the family being returned to Turkey - the country Mrs Ay fled with her children and husband Salih 15 years ago.

He was sent back to Turkey last year and has not been heard from since.

Judicial review

Scottish Socialist MSP Rosie Kane is in Berlin to put the family's case for asylum to the German authorities.

She revealed that she is also planning to call for the Scottish Executive to carry out a judicial review into the handling of the Ay case.

Ms Kane has branded the family's treatment a "disgrace" and claims the UK Government did not inform the German authorities about the Ay family's transfer, meaning there were no appropriate arrangements made for their arrival into Frankfurt.

She also said that no paperwork accompanied the family to explain their status - not even essential medical records.

The four children were the focus of a public campaign in Scotland

The Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Professor Iain Torrance, has written to a church counterpart in Germany asking for his support.

In a letter to Manfred Koch, of the Evangelische Kirche in Hanover, he asked church agencies to do all they could to help the family.

A spokesman for the Home Office said the family's case is now solely a matter for the German authorities while the Ministry of the Interior in Germany has yet to comment on the case.

The Ay family made and lost a series of applications for refugee status in Germany over many years since they first arrived from Turkey in 1988.

After the applications failed they travelled clandestinely in a lorry to Britain in June 1999.

Moves to deport the family began after it was discovered that the Germans had already repeatedly dealt with their asylum claim.

Yurdugal Ay's final appeal to remain in the UK was rejected by the House of Lords last Thursday.