Ecevit Piroğlu, who has been imprisoned in Serbia for 34 months, has been on hunger strike for 59 days. Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), Labour Party (EMEP) and Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) MPs called for Piroğlu's immediate release. Thirty-seven MPs, including members of the Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group between Turkey and Serbia, signed a declaration and sent it to the Serbian Embassy in Turkey. 

The declaration reads as follows:

"Urgent call to the Government of Serbia,

We have learned that Ecevit Piroğlu, who has been imprisoned in your country for 34 months, is in a critical stage of his hunger strike, which he started for the second time on 12 February 2024, and his health condition is deteriorating, even at a critical stage with the risk of death.

What is the reason for not releasing Ecevit Piroğlu, given that your government and judicial authorities have firmly rejected requests for his extradition to Turkey and that the prison sentence given to Piroğlu by the Serbian court was executed on 12 January 2024?

Why is Piroğlu being denied the right to leave your country officially, as required by international conventions to which you are a party? There are two separate decisions issued by your Ministry of Interior. As a result of the inconsistency between these two decisions, is the reason for the forced detention of Piroğlu in inhumane conditions the subject of possible political negotiations with the Government of Turkey? The medical controls to be applied to a person on hunger strike are determined by medical protocols. Despite this, what is your purpose in not carrying out Piroğlu's health checks?

As political parties and democratic organisations representing millions of people in Turkey, we are closely following the process and we warn you. The demands of the internationalist revolutionary Ecevit Piroğlu, whom we know from the Gezi resistance and his pioneering struggle against ISIS, must be accepted immediately and Piroğlu must regain his freedom. We state that your government will be held responsible in the international public opinion for the irreparable negativities that will occur due to its failure to take steps. End the unlawful arrest of Ecevit Piroğlu to end his hunger strike and stop preventing his right to leave your country!"