UPDATE - Turkish parliament speaker visits family of Turkish American activist Eygi killed by Israeli soldiers

UPDATE WITH MORE REMARKS BY KURTULMUS

By Gizem Nisa Cebi

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus on Saturday visited the family of slain Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi to offer his condolences on their loss.

"Just as the blood of every martyred Palestinian is sacred, Aysenur Eygi's blood is equally sacred. We will follow her case until the end," Kurtulmus told her mourning family, relatives and friends.

Eygi’s family, who live in in the coastal city of Didim, Türkiye, are mourning their daughter, who was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Sept. 6 while protesting illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Eygi, 26, had traveled to the region 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, in the West Bank, 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 Eygi was far from the protest area when she was shot by the sniper. She was taken to a Palestinian hospital but could not be saved despite doctors’ best efforts.

Eygi, born in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya in 1998, pursued a double major in psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures at the University of Washington in Seattle, in the US Pacific Northwest.

She had graduated just this June, and was well known for her commitment to activism and community service.