Turkey seeks international arrest warrants over citizen killed in West Bank

[September 12, 2024]   ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey has opened an investigation into the death of a Turkish-American activist believed to have been shot by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank and will request international arrest warrants, Ankara said on Thursday.

The body of the woman, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, will arrive in Turkey on Friday, the Foreign Ministry said.

Turkish-American woman Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a graduate of the University of Washington, poses wearing her mortarboard and keffiyeh in a family photograph taken at the University of Washington's 2024 commencement ceremony, in Seattle, Washington, U.S, June 8, 2024. International Solidarity Movement/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Israel has taken responsibility for the death of Eygi, who was killed last Friday while taking part in a protest against Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank.

The Foreign Ministry said she "was deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli soldiers during a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians."

"We will make every effort to ensure that this crime does not go unpunished," it said.

Israel has said it was highly likely its troops had fired the shot that killed her but that her death was unintentional.

A Turkish foreign ministry source said it was anticipated that Eygi's body would be flown from Tel Aviv to Baku on Thursday night, and on to Istanbul on Friday morning. She was expected to buried in the western Turkish city of Didim, on the Aegean coast.

Separately, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the Ankara chief prosecutor's office is investigating "those responsible for the martyrdom and murder of our sister Aysenur Ezgi Eygi".

He told reporters that Turkey had evidence regarding the killing and would make international arrest requests.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday her killing was unacceptable and Israel must do more to make sure such an event never happens again.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Angus MacSwan)

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