Turkey will submit its statement of accession to the genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice on Wednesday, as the file prepared by Ankara is likely to affect the course of the case in many ways.
Information has been gathered on the importance and scope of Turkey’s accession to the case as the seventh state to declare its accession after Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Palestine and Spain and its impact on the subsequent stages of the case.
Turkey’s request is expected to strengthen the decisions of other regional states to join, in addition to its symbolic importance.
The text that Turkey will submit to the court today is expected to support South Africa’s arguments and address how to interpret the relevant articles of the Genocide Convention, especially in the context of the massacres carried out by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
**Legal basis for accession
States can join a case filed before the International Court of Justice through two articles of the court’s statute.
First, under Article 62 of the Court’s Statute, known as the “Application for Accession,” a State may request the Court to allow it to join a case if it believes it has a legal interest that could be affected by the decision in the case.
Because accession under Article 62 of the Court’s Statute is subject to the Court’s authorization, States are expected to demonstrate a legal interest that would specifically affect their case’s outcome in their applications to join the case under this Article.
Under Article 62, States may join the case as either a “party” or a “non-party.”
In accessions under Article 62, the ICJ grants States rights such as the right to make comments and statements on the concrete event in the dispute, to participate in hearings, and to submit written and oral statements and requests.
Second, in the “Declaration of Accession” under Article 63 of the Court’s Statute, it is possible to make a general statement on how the Genocide Convention at issue is interpreted, as well as on the concrete event in the dispute.
-Advertisement-
Accessions made pursuant to Article 63 of the Statute of the Court are considered a “right” of States, and the Court, after receiving the statement of the parties to the case, agrees or declines to use the right of accession in accordance with the examination of that statement.
If the statement regarding the use of the right of accession in this article is deemed appropriate, the Court’s comment in the decision of that case is also binding on the acceding State.
To date, Nicaragua has made an application only under Article 62, while Palestine has made a joint application under Articles 62 and 63, while Colombia, Libya, Mexico and Spain have chosen to make statements on the interpretation of the Genocide Convention only under Article 63.
Although Turkey will make an application under Article 63, it retains the right to accede under Article 62, and may, at the later stages of the case, make a new application under Article 62, as well as the possibility of changing its statements regarding accession under Article 63 or submitting a new notification text.
By joining, states guide the Court’s judges on how to interpret the Genocide Convention and how to define genocide in the Gaza conflict, and through this guidance, legal and political pressure is exerted on the Court to determine the genocidal acts committed by Israel.
**The purpose of joining
While joining cases before the ICJ was not used much by states until recently, it has taken on a new meaning as a means for many states to contribute to the claimant state after the Gambia-Myanmar and Ukraine-Russia genocide cases.
While previously requests for joining were specifically in matters related to border disputes and maritime jurisdiction areas, the Court rejected most of these requests due to the “high threshold” for joining.
After the Court accepted the request for joining submitted by 32 out of 33 states in the case brought by Ukraine against Russia, this mechanism is being used as a tool to “pressure” the defendant state.
**The importance of Turkey’s joining
Turkey’s joining of the Gaza genocide case confirms its commitment to its legal and moral responsibilities at the international level.
Turkey is expected to submit to the ICJ a more detailed and comprehensive legal text with longer preparation than other states that have joined the case, and to force the court to follow its own jurisprudence by addressing its advisory opinion of 19 July that Israel is an occupying power in Gaza.
-Advertisement-
When viewed in light of its other efforts to achieve regional peace, Turkey’s accession to the case may encourage other states in the region to engage more actively in identifying violations of international law in Gaza and defending the rights of Palestinians.
Turkey’s interpretations and analyses as a regional power on the Genocide Convention have the potential to further influence the deliberations of the ICJ judges and the outcome of the Gaza Genocide Case and other cases in the future.
**Post-Statement
The Court requests the Republic of South Africa and Israel, as parties to the case, to submit their written comments on each accession statement it receives from other states.
The Court may also hold an oral hearing if it deems it necessary to determine whether the accession of these States is admissible.
The ICJ clerk sends the text of Turkey’s statement of accession to the case to both the UN Secretary-General and the member states of the organization, in addition to sending it to the parties to the case.
Later, the court publishes the text of the statement of accession on its official website unless a decision is issued to the contrary. In this context, it is expected that Turkey’s statement of accession will be published on the court’s website before the end of this week.
While Israel, as a party to the case, is expected to submit written observations opposing Turkey’s accession to the case, Ankara also has the right to submit its written observations against the Israeli objection.
The International Court of Justice usually announces its instructions regarding the request for several countries to join a case through a single decision that includes all.
** At what stage does Turkey join?
The case of considering the genocide in Gaza before the International Court of Justice is still in its first stage, which is the “first objections” regarding determining the jurisdiction of the court.
After determining the right of the International Court of Justice to consider the case of genocide in Gaza, it will move to the next stage, “the subject/grounds of the case”, before issuing its final decision.
-Advertisement-
Other states may join the case until the deadline for submission of written submissions in the second phase of the trial.
Turkey and other states joining the case in the first phase of the trial give them the opportunity to submit their statements and observations on the jurisdiction of the court as well as their statements on the merits of the case.
**When will the trial be completed?
Although the International Court of Justice has been moving more quickly in trials in recent years, genocide and similar complex cases take more than 10 years to complete.
For example, Bosnia and Herzegovina filed a genocide case against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 20 March 1993, and the court made its final decision on the genocide in Srebrenica on 26 February 2007, thus concluding a case that had been almost 14 years old.
In a similar case, on 3 February 2015, the Court issued its final decision on the merits of the genocide case filed by Croatia against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 2 July 1999, thus ending a 16-year-old case.
The Court currently has two genocide cases pending, the first filed by Gambia on 11 November 2019 and the second filed by Ukraine on 26 February 2022.
The Gaza genocide case is expected to take approximately 7-8 years to complete, although it is difficult to predict when it will be completed.
In late December 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice on the grounds that it had violated the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.
It asked the International Court of Justice to rule on precautionary measures in view of the seriousness of the situation in Gaza, and hearings on the precautionary measures request were held in The Hague on 11 and 12 January.
Later, several countries submitted requests to join the cause, including Palestine, Turkey, Libya, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Mexico.
