Turkey applies to join ICJ genocide case against Israel with a caveat
Turkey’s submission didn’t include a written commitment to accept the judgment as binding, which experts link to Ankara’s efforts to prevent the recognition of the mass killing and deportation of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as genocide.
ANKARA — Turkey officially applied to the UN International Court of Justice to be a co-plaintiff in South Africa’s case against Israel, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Wednesday, but unlike other applicants' submissions, Turkey’s official submission did not include a written commitment to accept that the judgment would be binding.
“Emboldened by the impunity of its crimes, Israel is killing more and more innocent Palestinians each day,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on X after the official submission to the United Nations’ highest legal body based in The Hague.
“The international community must do its part to stop the genocide and exert the necessary pressure on Israel and its supporters.”
South Africa brought the case in December, claiming that Israel’s actions are in breach of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. In an interim ruling in January, the court established the risk of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and ordered Israel to ensure that its forces refrain from acts of genocide in the enclave.
