Mourners gathered in southwest Turkey on Saturday for the funeral of a US-Turkish activist, who was shot lifeless whereas protesting Israeli settlements within the West Financial institution.
The killing final week of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has sparked worldwide condemnation and infuriated Turkey, additional escalating tensions over the battle in Gaza that started with Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel.
Eygi’s physique, wrapped within the Turkish flag and carried by uniformed officers, arrived at its last resting place within the Aegean city of Didim.
An image of Eygi was positioned close to the coffin throughout the funeral on the native mosque.
A big crowd gathered throughout the prayers together with Eygi’s household, members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted AKP social gathering, and activists advocating the Palestinian trigger.
Protesters chanted slogans close to the mosque displaying their assist for Palestinians.
Eygi was shot whereas participating in an indication on September 6 within the northern a part of the occupied West Financial institution, close to Nablus.
She was a human rights activist and volunteer for the Worldwide Solidarity Motion, which requires resisting the oppression of Palestinians utilizing non-violent strategies.
Her household needed Eygi to be buried in Didim, the place her grandfather lives and her grandmother has been laid to relaxation. She was a frequent customer to the seaside resort.
Ankara stated this week it was probing her demise and pressed the United Nations for an impartial inquiry.
Turkey stated it was additionally planning to subject worldwide arrest warrants for these accountable for Eygi’s demise, relying on the findings of its investigation.
The Israeli army has stated it was possible Eygi was hit “unintentionally” by forces whereas they had been responding to a “violent riot”, and stated it’s trying into the case.
President Erdogan himself didn’t present up in Didim however he despatched his vice-president, overseas, inside and justice ministers.
Opposition CHP social gathering chief Ozgur Ozel attended the funeral.
– ‘Search justice’-
The United Nations stated Eygi had been participating in a “peaceable anti-settlement protest” in Beita, the scene of weekly demonstrations.
Israeli settlements, the place about 490,000 individuals stay within the West Financial institution, are unlawful below worldwide legislation.
The younger girl’s physique arrived in Istanbul Friday from Tel Aviv, earlier than being transferred to Turkey’s third-biggest metropolis Izmir, the place an post-mortem was carried out.
Preliminary findings from that post-mortem revealed a bullet hit her within the head, and the reason for Eygi’s demise was outlined as “cranium fracture, mind haemorrhage and mind tissue harm,” state-run TRT tv reported.
The report overlapped with an preliminary post-mortem carried out by three Palestinian medical doctors, which concluded {that a} bullet handed instantly by means of the sufferer’s cranium.
Her mom, Rabia Birden, on Friday urged Turkish officers to pursue justice.
“The one factor I ask of our state is to hunt justice for my daughter,” she was quoted as saying by Anadolu information company.
Her father, Mehmet Suat Eygi, paid tribute to his daughter in Didim, telling AFP that she was a “very particular individual”.
“She was delicate to human rights, to nature, to the whole lot,” he stated.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday referred to as for Israel to offer “full accountability” for Eygi’s demise.
Erdogan has vowed to make sure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s demise doesn’t go unpunished”.
Her demise has additional infected tensions between Turkey and Israel.
Erdogan has turn into one of the strident critics within the Muslim world of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
He has accused the federal government of “state terrorism” — branding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “butcher of Gaza” whereas suspending all imports and exports to Israel.
