Memorial service, funeral held in southwestern Türkiye for Turkish American activist killed by Israeli soldiers in West Bank

By Gizem Nisa Cebi

ISTANBUL (AA) - A memorial service and funeral were held in southwestern Türkiye on Saturday for a Turkish American activist killed on Sept. 6 by Israeli soldiers.

During the ceremony at Aysenur Ezgi Eygi’s home in the Aegean coastal city of Didim, Aydin, prayers were offered for the young woman, who died at the age of 26.

Her body was brought to her family home in the Altinkum neighborhood. Eygi's father Mehmet Suat Eygi, her husband of Pakistani descent Hamid Mazhar Ali, and a group of relatives were accompanied by Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas, the Turkish family and social services minister.

Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunc also visited the family to offer his condolences.

After prayers at the family home, her body was taken to Didim Central Mosque for a funeral ceremony.

Following prayers, people gathered in front of the house and chanted "Death to Israel."

Eygi's body will be buried after noon prayers at Didim Central Mosque.

- Shot to death during peaceful protest

Before her death, Eygi had traveled to the West Bank to support Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation, according to reports from 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.