In Turkey, on Saturday, September 14, the funeral of the American-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was celebrated, shot in the head by the Israeli army during a demonstration in the occupied West Bank on September 6. Her body was buried in the family home in Didim, in the southwest of the country, in the presence of a large crowd. During the funeral ceremony, Turkish officials once again strongly denounced the death of their compatriot.
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With our correspondent in Ankara, Anne Andlauer
In Didim, on the Aegean coast, in the southwest of the Türkiyethe Vice-President of the Republic, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the President of Parliament, but also the leaders of several opposition parties, all gathered in front of the coffin ofAysenur Ezgi Eygi this Saturday, September 14.
The coffin, covered in the colours of the Turkish flag, was escorted to the small cemetery by a crowd of several hundred people and carried by riot police in white helmets, reserved for martyrs who fell in combat.
A tribute and a platform
Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus spoke of a day of ” great sorrow “, but also of ” great anger ” for Turkey. He described Aysenur Eygi as a ” national martyrdom “, like a ” symbol ” of the Palestinian cause which is also, he added, ” a national cause of Turkey “. ” It is not just the crime of a few Israeli soldiers “, he continued, ” This is the crime of a terrorist state and of certain complicit states that support the terrorist state. ” The Turkish official attacked, without naming him, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who had initially spoken of a ” accident “, of a bullet which would have ” ricocheted on the ground “.
The young woman’s body was first autopsied by Palestinian doctors, who concluded that it was a direct shot from Israeli forces. A second autopsy was carried out in Turkey, as part of an investigation into ” crime against humanity ” entrusted to the Ankara prosecutor’s office. Turkey is considering issuing international arrest warrants, depending on the results of its investigation.
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