What does Türkiye's joining of South Africa's lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice mean?

Aljazeera.net correspondents

Ankara- Turkey on Wednesday filed a formal application to join the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice in December last year. “The application submitted to the court in The Hague was prepared in a very detailed manner based on Article 63 of its statute,” the Foreign Ministry said.

In early May, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced that Ankara had decided to join South Africa's lawsuit, and the Turkish embassy in The Hague sent a memorandum to the International Court of Justice on May 31, explaining Turkey's intention to submit this request, which represented the first official step in the accession process.

The head of the Turkish parliament's legal committee, Cüneyt Yüksel, said that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided to intervene in the case and stated that the necessary studies had been initiated based on this decision. Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice, Yılmaz Tunç, confirmed that the file submitted by Ankara to the International Court of Justice includes all the evidence and proofs proving Israel's violation of the United Nations Convention on the Crime of Genocide.

Legal steps

States seek to join cases brought before the International Court of Justice through Articles 62 and 63 of the Statute of the Court.

Article 62: It allows states that believe they have a potential legal interest in the case to apply to join, provided that the court approves the application. This requires the submission of evidence demonstrating a legal interest that could be affected by the outcome of the case, and if approved, the joining state is allowed to participate in the hearings, make written and oral interventions, and comment on points of law.
Article 63: States are granted an unconditional right to join, as the court examines the statements of the parties wishing to join before deciding whether to approve or reject them. If the court considers that the statement submitted to exercise the right of accession is consistent with the required conditions and criteria, its decision in the case also becomes binding on the joining state, which gives this right great legal and international importance.

Turkey has announced its intention to join the current case under Article 63, which gives it an opportunity to express its opinion on the interpretation of the Genocide Convention, which is at the heart of the dispute.

Ankara’s interpretations are important given its role as an influential regional power and its ability to influence the deliberations of international justice judges. It also reserves the right to apply for accession under Article 62 at a later stage, which would enable it to play a more active role in the legal discussions and enhance its ability to influence the outcome of the case.

The importance of joining

A source familiar with the details of the request, who preferred to remain anonymous, stated that the committee worked proactively to refute all the arguments and excuses that Israel might present before the court regarding this issue.

He explained to Al Jazeera Net that “Israeli human rights activists” may try to claim that the massacres that took place in the Gaza Strip during the past ten months were individual incidents and that the occupation government “seeks to combat such actions and does not encourage them.”

According to the same source, the Israelis may cite the recent events in Sde Teiman prison to support their position. However, the committee refuted these allegations and presented evidence proving the Israeli government's involvement in these massacres, which strengthens the Turkish request before the court.

He added that the Turkish request stresses the urgent need to implement the temporary precautionary measures issued by the International Court of Justice without delay, which include stopping Israeli attacks on Gaza and urgently opening the Rafah border crossing to humanitarian aid.

In turn, international law researcher, Yugal Ager, confirmed to Al Jazeera Net that Ankara’s joining of this lawsuit does not mean that it has become a main party to it, as the two main parties to it are South Africa and Israel.

In his opinion, the countries that joined the lawsuit are those that see that they have an interest in the decisions that will be issued by the court, and that they may be affected by the current situation, and for this reason they seek to provide evidence and opinions that support one of the disputing parties.

Ability and experience

Researcher Ajir pointed out that Turkey's joining the lawsuit aims to support the Palestinian people, and puts it in a different position given Ankara's ability and experience in documenting the crimes committed by the occupation army in Gaza. He added that the distinguished relations between Turkey and Palestine will facilitate the process of collecting the necessary evidence to support the case.

Regarding Turkey's role in the case, he said that its accession should not be viewed as an immediate step that would end with the court accepting or rejecting the request, but rather that it would play an important role during the evaluation phase, which could last for years, until the charge of genocide committed by Israel in Gaza is proven.

The legal academic explained that Turkey did not delay in joining the lawsuit, and that it could have been the first to file the lawsuit before South Africa, and that work on this file had been ongoing since last April, but South Africa's steps “were faster.”

He believes that South Africa filing the lawsuit was the best option, because Ankara doing so “would have made the world system see the issue from a political perspective, which might reduce the seriousness of its interest.”

Ager recalled that Turkey has previously faced accusations of committing genocide, which may “limit its ability to bring the case alone, as its relationship with the court is less strong than its relationship with South Africa.”

It is noteworthy that so far, Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Palestine and Spain have requested to join South Africa's lawsuit, but the International Court of Justice has not yet decided on these requests.