Ecevit Piro\u011flu is the former director of the Human Rights Association branch in the Turkish city of Izmir and a member of the central committee of the Social Democratic Party. The Turkish authorities have accused the party of being part of a \u201cterrorist organization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many critics of Erdo\u011fan\u2019s regime in Turkey see Piro\u011flu\u2019s case as another example of an intensifying crackdown by the authoritarian regime on dissenting individuals and organizations, particularly of Kurdish background. The local chapter of the organization, the Initiative for the Freedom of Ecevit Piro\u011flu, describes the illegal behavior of the Serbian state as a transactional favor for the Turkish government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an attempt to raise public awareness of this blatant injustice, Piro\u011flu went on a hunger strike 140 days ago and is currently under police supervision in a hospital in Pan\u010devo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zoran Markovi\u0107 from the Initiative for the Freedom of Ecevit Piro\u011flu told Ma\u0161ina: “It should be noted that he was transferred to the hospital after 110 days of hunger strike mostly as a result of pressure from his legal team, who filed for an interim measure with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Until then, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had kept Piro\u011flu detained for 180 days despite a decision of the Serbian Court of Appeal. The Serbian government has refused to move him from the migrant camp called the \u2018Reception Center for Foreigners\u2019 in the suburb of Belgrade, Padinska Skela.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Markovi\u0107, who is well-versed in the legal aspects of the fight for the release of this Kurdish activist, told us that the Court of Appeal in Belgrade decided over a year ago that Ecevit Piro\u011flu is a free man who should not be extradited to Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He is currently detained on administrative grounds by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which, on the same day made two contradictory decisions: the first being that Piro\u011flu must immediately leave Serbia, and the other, that Piro\u011flu is a threat to the security of Serbia and therefore must be placed in the migrant camp in Padinska Skela,” says Markovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legal team of the Initiative for the Freedom of Ecevit Piro\u011flu has been fighting against these administrative decisions, but as they tell Ma\u0161ina: “the judicial system operates under the auspices of the security apparatus and makes legal decisions only after they lose all meaning.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“For example, our team recently received a ruling concluding that Piro\u011flu was unlawfully detained for a year under charges totally unrelated to the extradition process; however, this does not change the fact that Ecevit spent a year in prison and that it served as a favor for the Turkish government,” Markovi\u0107 explains to Ma\u0161ina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case of Ecevit Piro\u011flu is well known abroad. Members of parliament from various EU countries, as well as members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and its bodies, have repeatedly raised the issue of his release. One of them is Andrej Hunko, a member of the German Bundestag, with whom we discussed this case last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s more, the local group fighting for his release said that various embassies in Serbia have expressed concern to the Serbian government regarding this case. But so far, it has not led to his release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It seems that Piro\u011flu is a bargaining chip, and his freedom is just one of the many cards being used in geopolitical maneuvering by the Serbian state. In this sense, international pressure is one of the few instruments we have to try to force the state of Serbia to respect its own laws and the decisions of its own courts,” concludes Markovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On July 9, the 180-day maximum allowed for administrative detention expires. On this occasion, the Initiative for Freedom of Ecevit Piro\u011flu will organize a media conference next Monday in order to bring this case closer to the general public in Serbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M.M.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In direct violation of domestic and international laws as well as court rulings, Kurdish political activist Ecevit Piroglu has been detained in Serbia for several years now. He is currently being held in a hospital in Pan\u010devo, where he has been on hunger strike for the past 140 days. His health and life are on the line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[290,143],"form":[71],"concept":[188],"contents":[],"coauthors":[5],"class_list":["post-19992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ecevit-piroglu-2","tag-turkey","form-news","concept-society","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-25"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n