Turkey submitted its statement to join the genocide case filed by the Republic of South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice on Wednesday.
The statement to join the court was submitted by a Turkish delegation that included Ankara’s ambassador to The Hague, Selçuk Ünal, and AKP parliamentarian Cüneyt Yüksel.
The Turkish delegation also included the head of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee, AKP MP Ismail Emrah Karayel, and member of the Constitutional Committee in Parliament, Cahit Özkan.
With this, Turkey becomes the seventh country to join the genocide case against Israel at the “International Court of Justice” after Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Palestine, and Spain.
The International Court of Justice is expected to inform Israel and South Africa, as the parties to the case, of Turkey’s request to join the case, so that these two countries can later submit their comments on Turkey’s accession to the court.
-Advertisement-
While Israel is expected to submit written observations opposing Turkey’s accession to the case, Ankara also has the right to submit written observations countering the Israeli objection.
At the end of December 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice on the grounds that it violated the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.
It asked the International Court of Justice to decide on precautionary measures in light of the seriousness of the situation in Gaza, and hearings on the request for precautionary measures were held in The Hague on January 11 and 12.
With American support, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, leaving more than 131,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and deadly famine.
In contempt of the international community, Tel Aviv continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.
