[2] He was shot to death by the Israeli Defense Forces on the MV Mavi Marmara, in the Gaza flotilla raid.

[3][4] Furkan Doğan was born to ethnic Turkish parents in Troy, New York[5][6] in the United States and moved to Turkey at the age of two.

On 3 June 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed his death and said U.S. officials had met with Doğan's father to express their condolences.

[28] The Christian Science Monitor reported that his US citizenship may make it difficult to avoid a diplomatic confrontation between the US and Israel.

[29] Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the USA Government for being silent after Doğan's death.

"[30] In May 2011, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. government to release documents related to its knowledge and role in the attack, which it has thus far blocked.