Comparing them to notorious 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Turkish president vows to hold Israel accountable for deaths in Gaza

By Faruk Zorlu and Gizem Nisa Cebi

ANKARA / ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday pledged to seek justice for slain Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi and over 41,000 Gazan civilians, comparing the situation in Gaza to the notorious 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

At a joint press conference with Denis Becirovic, chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, held on the day Eygi was laid to rest in her hometown in Didim, Türkiye, Erdogan said: "In courts of law, we will hold Israel accountable for the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, along with over 41,000 of our Gazan brothers and sisters."

Stressing the severity of the situation, he said: "Today we are witnessing in Gaza and (other) occupied Palestinian territories a massacre similar to the one carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s."

Erdogan also added that the "perpetrators of Gaza," like the people behind the Srebrenica genocide, will be held accountable in international courts.

Becirovic, for his part, said: "The genocide in Gaza is actually the greatest disgrace in the world."

- Shot to death during peaceful protest

Shortly before her death, Eygi traveled to the West Bank to support Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation, according to the International Solidarity Movement.

On Sept. 3, Eygi went to observe a protest in the town of Beita in Nablus, to stand against the illegal Israeli settlements there.

The movement reported that on Sept. 6 Eygi was intentionally targeted and killed by an Israeli sniper standing on a nearby rooftop.

Eyewitnesses reported that when she was shot by the sniper, Eygi was far from the protest area. She was taken to a Palestinian hospital but despite doctors’ best efforts, could not be saved.

Turkish diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem coordinated the transfer of her body from Tel Aviv to Baku, Azerbaijan before her final journey to Türkiye.

Turkish authorities received Eygi’s body on Friday and transported it to the Izmir Forensic Medicine Institution for an autopsy.

Türkiye on Thursday also launched an investigation into the killing under domestic law.

The autopsy found that a bullet entered through her lower ear area.

Eygi was shot in the head during a peaceful protest and died later in a hospital.

The autopsy by the Izmir Forensic Medicine Institution has found that her cause of death was a skull fracture, brain hemorrhage, and brain tissue damage. There was a bullet entry wound but no exit wound, and metallic fragments from the bullet are being analyzed. The autopsy procedures are ongoing.