Kurdish activist Ecevit Piroglu has left Serbia following two failed attempts, after the Serbian Internal Affairs Ministry ordered him to leave the country within 30 days a month ago.

“I can confirm that Ecevit Piroglu has left the Republic of Serbia, in line with the Internal Affairs Ministry’s decision that allowed him to stay in Serbia up to 30 days, which expires tomorrow,” Piroglu’s lawyer, Milan Vukovic, told N1 on Wednesday.

After the Belgrade Appeals Court rejected Turkey’s request to extradite Ecevit Piroglu, this Turkish national, who is accused of terrorism in his home country, tried twice to leave Serbia but was denied entry by Switzerland and Austria.

Ecevit Piroglu, a Kurd born in Turkey in 1974, left Turkey in 2015 and went to Syria, where he joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Units. He was arrested in Serbia in 2021 on an Interpol warrant issued by Turkey, which accuses him of membership in a terrorist organization.

He spent nearly three years in detention, twice engaging in over 100-day hunger strikes, dropping below 50 kilograms and requiring hospitalization.

The Belgrade Appeals Court overturned the Higher Court’s extradition decision twice before finally dismissing it.

He was released from a reception center for foreigners on July 9, when he received an order from the Internal Affairs Ministry to leave Serbia within 30 days.