Turkey prepares to bury US activist killed by Israel in West Bank

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi will be laid to rest in in her family’s home town Didim, in western Turkey.

Hundreds of mourners in Turkey have gathered for funeral prayers ahead of the burial of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi who was killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank.

The killing last week of 26-year-old Eygi sparked international condemnation against Israel. She was shot in the head while taking part in a demonstration on September 6 against illegal Israeli settlements.

On Saturday, family members, friends and supporters congregated in Eygi’s home town of Didim, in western Turkey.

media’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Didim, said that for days, Eygi’s family have been receiving visitors from Turkey, the United States and other parts of the world, as they awaited the arrival of her remains.

“You can see the disbelief in their faces that Aysenur is no more,” Serdar said, adding that tight security measures were in place.

Eygi’s coffin was brought to the coastal Aegean town on Saturday following a martyrs’ ceremony at Istanbul airport on Friday.

She was a frequent visitor to Didim, and her family said they wanted her to be buried there, where her grandfather lives and her grandmother has been laid to rest.

Her coffin was taken to the family’s home and then to a mosque in Didim.

Turkey said this week it was investigating her death and pressed the United Nations for an independent inquiry.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished”.

US President Joe Biden called for Israel to provide “full accountability” for Eygi’s death.

The Israeli military has said it was likely Eygi was hit “unintentionally” by forces while they were responding to a “violent riot” in Beita, near Nablus.

But growing evidence contradicts that, with witnesses saying Israeli soldiers deliberately killed her.

‘Deliberately targeted’

Eygi’s family asked the United States to launch an independent inquiry into her killing, saying an Israeli probe was not “adequate”.

The United Nations said Eygi had been taking part in a “peaceful anti-settlement protest” in Beita, the scene of weekly demonstrations, when she was killed.

Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a group that has been protesting against Israel’s occupation, and arrived in the West Bank a few days before she died.