Ankara will submit evidence to the International Criminal Court (ICC), International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the United Nations regarding the murder of Turkish-American Aysenur Eyzi Eygi by the Israel Defense Forces during a protest in the West Bank.
On September 6, Eygi was fatally shot in the head by an IDF sniper. Tel Aviv conducted an investigation and concluded that the killing was unintentional. President Joe Biden backed the Israeli narrative, saying the bullet “ricocheted off the ground.”
An investigation by the Washington Post disputed Tel Aviv’s conclusion that the sniper was firing at a protester that was instigating a riot, as the IDF claimed. The Post found there was no one at the protest that could have possibly posed a threat to the Israeli soldiers at the time the sniper shot Eygi.
Still, Washington has refused to condemn Tel Aviv or demand justice for the killing. It is consistent with past Biden policy when the White House refused to take action against Israel for the killings of two other Americans in Israel, Omar Assad and Shireen Abu Akleh.
As Eygi is also a Turkish citizen, Ankara is showing interest in seeking justice for the murdered activist.
A top Turkish official explained Ankara’s position to reporters. “We will both bring Aysenur’s reports to the United Nations Security Council’s agenda, and submit our sister Aysenur’s reports and evidence to the International Court of Justice, where the genocide case is continuing,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said. “We will also submit Aysenur’s evidence to the ongoing investigation about Israeli aggressors at the International Criminal Court.”
