A friend of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish American activist who was killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, said that she warned Eygi about the dangers of going to Palestine.
“I warned her, with great respect for her activism and idealism, that 'Ayse, you know this is very serious,' and she went (to the region) knowing that. Eygi said, 'I know, but if I die, I die',” Busra Demirkol told reporters after visiting Eygi's family home in the coastal city of Didim in the Aegean province of Aydin.
“It was an honor to know her … She wanted to go, and she was considering which organization to go with but had not made a final decision,” Demirkol added.
When Demirkol was in Istanbul, Eygi called her to say she made her decision.
Noting that she visited the family to offer condolence, Demirkol said she is a PhD student at University of Washington and met Eygi there.
Demirkol said that Eygi was very active in anti-Israel protests at University of Washington and attended every meeting.
"She was very vibrant and full of life. She was very sensitive to everything. As her father said, she cared deeply about nature, people, cultures, and languages. Even when she was just 18, she had been hit three times with plastic bullets during an action to defend the rights of indigenous people in the US,” she said.
Demirkol added that Eygi's last book was about the Algerian resistance.
Eygi, 26, had traveled to the region to support Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation, according to reports from the International Solidarity Movement – a Palestinian-led group that is helping the Palestinian cause in the conflict with Israel.
Eygi, born in Antalya, Türkiye in 1998, moved to the US with her family when she was an infant and graduated in June from the University of Washington, where she studied psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures.
She arrived in the West Bank last Tuesday to volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) as part of an effort to support and safeguard Palestinian farmers.
As coordinated by Türkiye's Embassy in Tel Aviv and Consulate General in Jerusalem, Eygi's body was transported from Tel Aviv to Baku, Azerbaijan, and then to Istanbul and Izmir, where it was received with ceremonies.
After forensic procedures in Izmir but with some autopsy procedures ongoing, Eygi's body was taken to Didim.
Eygi was a human rights activist and a volunteer with ISM, which supports Palestinians with peaceful and civilian methods against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
