Aysenur Ezgi Eygi’s dad and mom need her to be buried in Didim, Turkey, the place the younger Turkish-American lady was born.
The 26-year-old activist for Palestine was shot dead by Israeli troops final Friday whereas protesting in opposition to unlawful Israeli settlements in Beita, south of Nablus within the occupied West Financial institution.
Turkish officers labored for days to safe the repatriation of Aysenur’s physique for a burial deliberate on Friday.
Aysenur, a current graduate of the College of Washington in Seattle, in the US, was protesting in opposition to an Israeli settlement in close by Evyatar when she was shot within the head.
Grief welled for the younger activist and an enormous funeral procession was held for her in Nablus on Tuesday.
Senior members of the Palestine Authority (PA) escorted her physique, draped in a Palestinian flag and keffiyeh, by means of the city earlier than it was carried away by a Palestinian ambulance.
‘Outdated soul’
Sam Chesneau, a co-founder and director of the Seattle-based American-Muslim organisation Wasat, of which Aysenur had been a member, described her as “an outdated soul, smart past her years, a very caring individual and profound thinker” who had “an amazing sense of humour”.
“The world mourns her as a result of all of us recognise the perfect potential of ourselves in her,” Chesneau mentioned.
“She reminds us to make peace with loss of life and, moderately, worry a lifetime of apathy, of selecting security on the expense of our beliefs and our humanity.”
From Aysenur’s household’s dwelling in Didum, her aunt Gulay Yeniceoglu advised native media the younger activist was “a really compassionate individual and couldn’t flip a blind eye to injustice”.
Aysenur was killed throughout a peaceable protest in opposition to the unlawful settlement in Eyvatar, established on Palestinian land within the West Financial institution in 2013.
‘She was smiling’
Witnesses to Aysenur’s killing have additionally contradicted Israeli claims that her loss of life was unintended.
Amongst them was Italian activist “Mariam” who rode with Aysenur within the ambulance as she was transferred to Beita after which to Nablus, the place she was pronounced useless.
Mariam mentioned: “We have been clearly seen to the military, there was nothing taking place subsequent to us … it was a shoot to kill.”
Whereas she had simply met Aysenur once they arrived in Palestine, Mariam mentioned about her: “She was a sort individual … she was able to be right here, within the area, in help of the Palestinian battle. She was smiling, she prayed after we have been within the backyard.”
A pal of Aysenur’s, who had arrived within the occupied West Financial institution for the primary time three days earlier than the killing, advised the net title +972 that the protest at Beita was her and Aysenur’s first.
“We have been model new,” the pal, who gave her identify as EN, mentioned. “She was conscious of the dangers; she had a clearer image than me concerning the state of affairs in numerous components of the West Financial institution … from speaking to individuals and researching and realizing folks that skilled tragedies.
“However it’s nonetheless laborious to understand in the event you haven’t spent quite a lot of time right here,” EN continued.
“How will you know that you’ll get shot within the head within the first hour or two of being on the bottom? She wasn’t on the entrance line however on the again, and so they nonetheless murdered her.”
Israel issued a brief statement on Tuesday, through which it mentioned that it had investigated and that Aysenur was “extremely possible hit not directly and unintentionally” by its forces within the space.
It added that the bullet which struck Aysenur within the head had not been “aimed toward her, however aimed on the key instigator of the riot” and that the army had “deep remorse” over Aysenur’s loss of life.
The Worldwide Solidarity Motion (ISM), with which Aysenur was volunteering, mentioned the protest was peaceable.
Aysenur’s killing has drawn comparisons with that of Rachel Corrie, one other US citizen volunteering with the ISM when she was killed by an Israeli military bulldozer whereas protesting in Rafah, Gaza, in 2003.
Greater than 10 years later, an Israeli civil judge present in favour of the military in a case introduced by Corrie’s household, ruling her loss of life an accident.
‘They shot to kill’
Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, who was on the protest and was one of many first individuals to succeed in Aysenur after she was shot, mentioned the group had retreated from their protest spot on the prime of the Mount Sabih hill and from Israeli troopers who had fired tear gasoline at them.
The activists have been standing inside the built-up space of Beita for about half-hour, throughout which era the troopers took over the rooftop of a home on the prime of the hill.
That dwelling belonged to the daughter of Munir Khudair, who was on the roof that Friday, he advised Al Jazeera: “After all, the military surrounds this home each Friday and climbs onto the roof to make use of it to shoot at demonstrators. The military got here … and we went downstairs.”
On the time when two photographs sounded, Munir mentioned, there have been no confrontations or friction. “I feel it was a sniper who fired,” he mentioned, including: “We heard shouting from the group, saying: ‘Damage! Damage!’”
About 90 minutes after the capturing, the troopers left Munir’s daughter’s dwelling.
Pollak mentioned that he was sure the photographs have been dwell ammunition. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years, I do know the distinction between the sound of rubber bullets, tear gasoline and dwell ammunition.
“Considered one of them hit a steel object after which the thigh of a younger man from the village, after which one other shot was heard.”
Pollak was known as over to the place Aysenur had fallen, and he held his hand – nonetheless bloodied as he spoke proper after the assault – to the again of her head to attempt to stem the bleeding.
“There’s nothing that may justify this capturing,” he mentioned adamantly. “They shot to kill … 17 individuals have been killed in demonstrations in Beita by the Israeli military since 2021.
In response to Israel’s admission of partial accountability for Aysenur’s loss of life, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed the killing, calling it “unprovoked and unjustified” and known as for “basic adjustments” in the way in which Israel operates within the West Financial institution.
Nevertheless, US President Joe Biden later appeared to ignore Blinken’s feedback, supporting Israel’s characterisation of Aysenur’s killing as an “accident”.
The day after Aysenur’s killing, her household issued an announcement by means of the ISM, calling for an unbiased US investigation into her loss of life which doesn’t contain the Israeli army to “guarantee full accountability for the responsible events”.
The United Nations Human Rights Workplace spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani advised the Turkish Anadolu information company that they have been calling for an “unbiased worldwide investigation into the violations which have been dedicated within the Palestinian territory”, with out additional clarification.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to take “each authorized step” to make sure her blood “was not spilled in useless” – actions together with a possible attraction to the Worldwide Court docket of Justice, already investigating Israel on fees of potential genocide.
