Turkey seeks international arrest warrants over Turkish-American citizen killed in West Bank

PHOTO CAPTION: 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

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. Her father said the funeral was set for Saturday in the Turkish Aegean coastal city of Didim.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mehmet Suat Eygi, Aysenur's father, told reporters he welcomed Turkey's investigation into the murder and said he expected the same from the U.S. government.

"When there is an injustice against one of its own, or a murder of its own citizens, America, like the eagle on its emblem, swoops down. But when it comes to Israel, there is an effort to evade it," Turkish media cited him as saying.

Eygi added that his daughter was 10 months old when she moved to the United States.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever, Ece Toksabay and Daren Butler;Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Angus MacSwan)