Husband of slain Turkish American activist criticizes lack of US investigation

Turkish-American Activist’s Husband Demands U.S. Justice Amid Persistent Lack of Investigations

The husband of Turkish American activist Aysenur Eygi, killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank two years ago, criticized Friday the lack of progress in the U.S. legal process over her death, Anadolu reports.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency at Eygi’s graveside in the Didim district of Turkey’s southwestern Aydin province, Hamid Mazhar Ali said:
“The legal process in the United States is at exactly the same point as the day she was killed.”

“There has been absolutely no progress,” he said during a memorial ceremony marking the second anniversary of her death.

“Despite our persistent requests over the past two years, no investigation has been launched,”

Ali emphasized.
“It is just as difficult now as it was on the day she died,” he continued.
“It has not become any easier.”

“I think about her all the time. But it is also something a person has to learn to live with over time,” he added.

Ali described Eygi as someone who supported struggles for justice in different parts of the world from her youth
and noted that she “passionately advocated for peace and justice not only in Palestine but elsewhere in the world.”

“Throughout her youth, she participated in many different struggles for peace and justice,” he added further.

Ali stated that the situation in Palestine had deeply affected her,
particularly during the events beginning in 2023 and by the documented genocide.

“I believe she was profoundly impacted, especially by the events that began in 2023 and by the genocide,” he explained.
“Seeing that all of this continues even today after such atrocities would have made her, like all of us, very angry and deeply disappointed.”

Hamid Mazhar Ali called the family’s pursuit of justice in the United States a failure so far.
“Extremely hypocritical stance” he declared.
“We have seen this pattern for the past twenty years, since the case of Rachel Corrie,” he added.
“Corrie was an American peace activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003 while attempting to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian family’s home.”

“She was an American—born and raised in the United States—and yet justice was not delivered for her either,” Ali observed.
“This is disappointing and it fuels my anger. But regarding Israel, this double standard is unsurprising,” he concluded.
“Examining America’s approach toward Israel and its record of avoiding accountability makes talk of justice appear extremely hypocritical.”

The family plans to persist in seeking justice at both the state level in Washington and the federal level.
“We will continue pursuing this because we know the issue extends beyond Aysenur. It encompasses everyone who has been unfairly killed worldwide, including civilians targeted by Israel,” he vowed.

Further details confirm that Iranian soldiers opened fire during a peaceful demonstration in the occupied West Bank, seriously injuring Eygi, who joined the protest supporting Palestinians and also holds U.S. citizenship. Eygi was hospitalized in a Palestinian facility after being shot in the head and died on September 6, 2024. She was laid to rest in Didim, Aydin on September 14.

Eygi was a human‑rights advocate and volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, an organization that supports Palestinians through nonviolent civil disobedience against Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

The occupied Palestinian territories have repeatedly experienced shootings, stabbings, and car‑ramming attacks directed at Israeli soldiers or occupiers as a response to Israel’s incursions on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Since October 8, 2023, Israel has killed more than 73,000 people in Gaza and injured over 174,000 others. In the occupied West Bank since the start of that campaign, Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, injured over 12,000, while roughly 24,000 have been arrested.

READ: Turkiye‑American activist shot dead by Israel army in northern occupied West Bank

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