Turkey holds funeral for activist Aysenur Aygi slain by 'Israel'
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Turkey holds a funeral procession for activist Aysenur Aygi, who was killed in the West Bank, after her body arrived in Istanbul.
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Women attend a funeral prayer in absentia ceremony in memory of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi killed by Israeli gunfire, at Fatih mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, September 13, 2024 (AP)
Turkey held the funeral for activist Aysenur Eygi in the western city of Aydin on Saturday after the noon prayer. Eygi was killed by Israeli occupation forces during a peaceful demonstration in the West Bank.
Eygi's body, wrapped in the Turkish flag and carried by uniformed officers, arrived at its final resting place in the Aegean town of Didim, as mourners gathered in southwest Turkey on Saturday for the funeral.
A picture of Eygi was placed near the coffin during the funeral at the local mosque.
The body of the martyr was transported to Turkey on Friday morning on a flight from Lydd Airport (Ben Gurion) in occupied Palestine, with a stopover in Baku, Azerbaijan, before arriving in Istanbul.
The body was received in an official ceremony attended by Istanbul Governor Davut Gul and several officials. Eygi's body was then transferred to the forensic medical institute in Izmir, where the autopsy took about four hours, before being moved to Aydin for the funeral procession.
Read next: Turkiye will take 'every legal step' over Eygi's killing: Erdogan
In parallel, absentee prayers were held for the activist in various Turkish cities, including Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa, Eskisehir, Kutahya, and Kocaeli. These gatherings were attended by local officials, civil society representatives, and large crowds of citizens.
Batı Şeria'da İsrail askerlerince öldürülen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi için Adnan Menderes Havalimanı'nda düzenlenen törene katılıyoruz.
— Özgür Özel (@eczozgurozel) September 13, 2024
"Filistin davası bütün Türkiye’nin davasıdır.” pic.twitter.com/zRhhUmrP96
Participants in the events condemned the repeated Israeli attacks on Palestinians, expressing solidarity with Aysenur Eygi's family and reaffirming their support for the Palestinian cause.
The Turkish American Steering Committee (TASC), an NGO, called for a "transparent, fair, and complete investigation" following Eygi's murder by an Israeli sniper in the West Bank.
TASC emphasized that "it is the duty of the US government to protect its citizens both domestically and abroad."
Soldier 'shouted in joy'
The Israeli sniper who shot and murdered Eygi screamed in delight after the murder, as per Palestinian eyewitnesses.
"After shooting her, he was happy, he shouted in joy," Khdair told Anadolu.
Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli activist who has been partaking in protests against Israeli settlement expansion in the region for many years, expressed that the Israeli soldier responsible for Eygi's murder "took a kill shot," yet this is not an "isolated incident", he maintained, detailing how the same bullet that killed the Turkish activist "killed people in Nur Shams and Jenin."
Pollak stated that a 13-year-old girl was killed only a few kilometers away, emphasizing the weapons are "American-funded" to continue the genocide in Gaza "with complete impunity."
Eygi's death has sparked outrage and drew international condemnations. The Beita protest was part of ongoing demonstrations against the expansion of Israeli settlements and land seizures in the area.
Eygi, an American-Turkish human rights activist, arrived in the West Bank last Tuesday to volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) as part of a campaign to protect Palestinian farmers from settler and IOF violence.
It is worth noting that Eygi would be the third ISM volunteer the IOF murdered, after Rachel Corrie in 2004 and Tom Hurndall in 2005.
