Turkey to submit evidence over Turkish-American woman's killing to international courts

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will submit evidence about Israel's killing of a Turkish-American woman in the West Bank this month to the United Nations Security Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), its justice minister said on Monday.

CONTEXT

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed on Sept. 6 as she took part in a protest against settlement expansion in the West Bank amid the war in Gaza.

Israel has acknowledged that its troops shot the activist, but says it was an unintentional act during a demonstration that turned violent.

Israel's Western allies have been angered by surging settler assaults on Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, part of historic Palestine which Palestinians want for an independent state. The war in Gaza has also increased tensions in the region.

Turkey has opened an investigation into Eygi's killing and will request international arrest warrants, Ankara said this month, while President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would go to the ICJ over the matter.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Eygi's killing has added strain to ties between Israel and its main ally the United States, which has been angered by the surge of assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank and demanded a swift investigation into the incident.

Washington has said that Eygi's killing was unacceptable and that Israel must ensure such an event never happens again.

Israel's initial findings on the killing do not exonerate its security forces, the United States said, warning that it would consider other measures if it is not satisfied with the results of a full Israeli probe.

KEY QUOTES

"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 told reporters.

"We will also submit Aysenur's evidence to the ongoing investigation about Israeli aggressors at the International Criminal Court," he added, without giving a timeline.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren Butler and Ed Osmond)