Turkey lays to rest activist killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank

Mourners gathered in southwest Turkey on Saturday for the funeral of a US-Turkish activist, who was shot dead while protesting Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The killing last week of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has sparked international condemnation and infuriated Turkey, further escalating tensions over the war in Gaza that began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

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.

A picture of Eygi was placed near the coffin during the funeral at the local mosque.

A large crowd gathered during the prayers including Eygi's family, members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted AKP party, and activists advocating the Palestinian cause.

Protesters chanted slogans near the mosque showing their support for Palestinians.

Eygi was shot while taking part in a demonstration on September 6 in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, near Nablus.

She was a human rights activist and volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement, which calls for resisting the oppression of Palestinians using non-violent methods.

Her family wanted Eygi to be buried in Didim, where her grandfather lives and her grandmother has been laid to rest. She was a frequent visitor to the seaside resort.

Pressure on US 

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

Turkey also urged the US to probe her death, with Erdogan's chief press aide Fahrettin Altun saying Istanbul had already launched its own investigation and calling for an "international investigation".

"Since Aysenur was a dual Turkish-American citizen, the US must do the same and pressure the Israeli authorities for answers and full accountability," he wrote Saturday on X, formerly Twitter.

Turkey said it was also planning to issue international arrest warrants for those responsible for Eygi's death, depending on the findings of its investigation.

Erdogan -- who has become one of the most strident critics in the Muslim world of Israel's offensive in Gaza -- has vowed to ensure "that Aysenur Ezgi's death does not go unpunished".

The Israeli military has said it was likely Eygi was hit "unintentionally" by forces while they were responding to a "violent riot", and said it is looking into the case.

President Erdogan himself did not show up in Didim but he sent his vice-president, foreign, interior and justice ministers.

Opposition CHP party chief Ozgur Ozel attended the funeral.

'Seek justice'

The United Nations said Eygi had been taking part in a "peaceful anti-settlement protest" in Beita, the scene of weekly demonstrations.

Israeli settlements, where about 490,000 people live in the West Bank, are illegal under international law.

The young woman's body arrived in Istanbul Friday from Tel Aviv, before being transferred to Turkey's third-biggest city Izmir, for an autopsy.

Initial findings revealed a bullet hit her in the head, and the cause of Eygi's death was defined as "skull fracture, brain haemorrhage and brain tissue damage," state-run TRT television reported.

The report overlapped with an initial autopsy carried out by three Palestinian doctors, which concluded that a bullet passed directly through the victim's skull.

Her mother, Rabia Birden, on Friday urged Turkish officials to pursue justice.

"The only thing I ask of our state is to seek justice for my daughter," she was quoted as saying by Anadolu news agency.

Her father, Mehmet Suat Eygi, paid tribute to his daughter in Didim, telling AFP that she was a "very special person" who was "sensitive to human rights".

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for Israel to provide "full accountability" for Eygi's death.

Her death has further inflamed tensions between Turkey and Israel.

Erdogan has accused the Israel government of "state terrorism" -- branding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the "butcher of Gaza", and suspending all imports and exports to Israel.