American-Turkish activist killed in West Bank is laid to rest in Turkey
Ankara vows death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi won’t go unpunished, while US calls for accountability and urges Israel to reexamine IDF’s rules of engagement
DIDIM, Turkey — Mourners gathered in southwest Turkey on Saturday for the funeral of a US-Turkish activist who was shot dead last week while protesting Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The killing of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has sparked international condemnation and infuriated Turkey, further escalating tensions over the war in Gaza that began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
Eygi’s body, wrapped in the Turkish flag and carried by uniformed officers, arrived at its final resting place in the Aegean town of Didim.
A picture of Eygi was placed near the coffin during the funeral at the local mosque.
A large crowd gathered during the prayers that included Eygi’s family, members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted AKP party, and activists advocating the Palestinian cause.
Protesters chanted slogans near the mosque showing their support for Palestinians.
Eygi was shot while taking part in a demonstration on September 6 in the northern part of the West Bank, near Nablus.
She was a human rights activist and volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement, which calls for resisting Israeli rule over Palestinians using non-violent methods.
Her family wanted Eygi to be buried in Didim, where her grandfather lives and her grandmother has been laid to rest. She was a frequent visitor to the seaside resort.
Ankara said this week it was probing her death and pressed the United Nations for an independent inquiry.
Turkey said it was also planning to issue international arrest warrants for those responsible for Eygi’s death, depending on the findings of its investigation.
The Israeli military has said it was likely Eygi was hit “unintentionally” by forces while they were responding to a “violent riot” and said it was looking into the case. On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said the activist had in all probability been mistakenly hit by troops aiming at another individual. “The incident occurred during a violent gathering of dozens of Palestinian suspects, who burned tires and threw stones at forces at Beita Junction,” the military said, adding that it “expresses its deepest regret over the death.”
President Erdogan himself did not show up in Didim but sent his vice president and foreign, interior and justice ministers.
‘Seek justice’
The United Nations said Eygi had been taking part in a “peaceful anti-settlement protest” in Beita, the scene of weekly demonstrations.
Most of the international community views Israeli settlements, where about 490,000 people live in the West Bank, as illegal. Israel maintains the territory is disputed.
The young woman’s body arrived in Istanbul Friday from Tel Aviv, before being transferred to Turkey’s third-largest city Izmir, where an autopsy was carried out.
Initial findings from that autopsy revealed a bullet hit her in the head, and the cause of Eygi’s death was defined as “skull fracture, brain hemorrhage and brain tissue damage,” state-run TRT television reported.
The report overlapped with an initial autopsy carried out by three Palestinian doctors, which concluded that a bullet passed directly through the victim’s skull.
Her mother, Rabia Birden, urged Turkish officials on Friday to pursue justice.
“The only thing I ask of our state is to seek justice for my daughter,” she was quoted as saying by Anadolu news agency.
Her father, Mehmet Suat Eygi, paid tribute to his daughter in Didim, telling AFP that she was a “very special person.”
“She was sensitive to human rights, to nature, to everything,” he said.
US President Joe Biden called on Wednesday for Israel to provide “full accountability” for Eygi’s death.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, US State Department Matthew Miller said the US was waiting for the results of Israel’s investigation to pass judgment or consider consequences for Eygi’s killing.
US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller deflects questions about consequences for Israel following the killing of American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank last week, emphasizing a wait-and-see approach to the investigation.
Despite recent… pic.twitter.com/50VYMvEfiP
— ❀ N ✿ (@8zal) September 13, 2024
“The investigation needs to be prompt, it needs to be thorough, and it needs to be transparent,” he said, while adding that “even knowing what we know now, we know enough to know that the Israeli security forces need to make changes in the way they are operating in the West Bank.”
The statement echoed those made by Biden, and by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin who earlier this week urged Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to reexamine the IDF’s rules of engagement.
Erdogan has meanwhile vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished.”
Her death has further inflamed tensions between Turkey and Israel.
Erdogan has been one of the most strident critics in the Muslim world of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. He has accused the government of “state terrorism,” branding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “butcher of Gaza” while suspending all imports and exports to Israel. He has often compared Israel to Nazi Germany and Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
