Ankara- The Turkish Human Rights and Equality Foundation launched a report that is the first official document of this size issued by Turkey to document Israeli crimes in Palestine, including the genocide in Gaza.
The report was prepared by a specialized academic team, based on historical and legal documents, archival photographs, and information drawn from reliable sources, including the archives of the Turkish Parliament and the Anadolu Agency.
The report, entitled “Human Rights Violations in Palestine and Genocide in Gaza,” was issued today, Tuesday, in the Grand Ceremony Hall of the Turkish Parliament headquarters in Ankara, in the presence of a number of prominent officials, including Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, as well as Legal, academic and media figures.
New strategy
The report, consisting of 4 main sections, provided a comprehensive analysis of the historical roots of the conflict, and focused on the crimes committed by Israel in Gaza and other Palestinian areas.
The first section dealt with “the emergence of the Zionist project,” analyzing the religious and historical foundations that were used to justify the establishment of Israel, and highlighting the gradual shift in its policies towards systematic aggression against the Palestinians.
The second section reviewed the human rights violations committed by Israel before October 7, which witnessed a large-scale military escalation in Gaza.
In the third section, the report focused on the crimes that systematically affected Palestinian civilians, including the targeting of homes, schools, hospitals, and places of worship, crimes that the report considered a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
Finally, in its fourth section, the report stressed the necessity of formulating a new strategy to confront Israel and its policies, stressing the importance of adopting a new, more comprehensive and effective language to hold Israel accountable, away from traditional solutions that have proven to fail in curbing Israeli aggression.
The report stressed that Israel has repeatedly shown its unwillingness to reach peaceful solutions through negotiations, and this requires adopting multidimensional tools to confront it, including:
- Imposing strict sanctions on Israel to deter it from continuing its violations.
- Launching diplomatic and legal campaigns to criminalize the occupation leaders internationally.
- Supporting Palestinian rights through international institutions, such as the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
The report stressed that these steps are not an option, but rather an urgent necessity to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza, noting that continued international failure reinforces Israel’s impunity.
Official support
During the event of announcing the report, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç gave a speech in which he described the report as a historic step towards exposing Israel’s crimes that “cannot go unaccounted for,” noting the importance of international cooperation to achieve justice.
He said, “The report provides accurate documentation of the violations committed by Israel against the Palestinians, not only through military attacks, but also by using economic tools aimed at destroying Palestinian society.”
The minister added that Israel continues to defy international and humanitarian laws, supported by the silence of the international community, noting that the Israeli attacks on Gaza caused huge human losses. He stated that 41,000 Palestinians lost their lives, while the number of wounded exceeded 97,000 people, according to the statistics on which the report was based.
For his part, Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus stressed in his speech that Israel is no longer a state above the law, and said, “Today we are witnessing the end of the illusion that Israel cannot be held accountable, and the International Criminal Court’s decision to prosecute Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant is evidence.” “On that.” He added, “Israel is now experiencing its worst days, and the international community is required to stand firmly against its crimes.”
A means of international accountability
In turn, the head of the Turkish Human Rights and Equality Foundation, Mehmet Kilic, explained that the report includes live testimonies from Palestinian victims who were subjected to Israeli crimes, and stressed that these testimonies were collected in accordance with international legal standards, with the aim of using them as evidence in international courts.
Klić added, “The report is not limited to documenting crimes, but rather provides a clear vision to the international community on how to deal with these violations,” noting that the report was prepared in cooperation with legal and academic experts, and was based on archival documents and testimonies from Palestinians being treated in Türkiye.
He explained that the institution submitted copies of the report to a number of international bodies, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, with the aim of supporting efforts aimed at holding Israeli officials accountable.
International law researcher Yugal Ager believed that the report represents a qualitative step in supporting the Palestinian cause at the legal and international levels, as it sheds light in detail on the genocide and systematic human rights violations committed by Israel against the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza.
Ager indicated – in his speech to Tel Aviv Tribune Net – that the value of the report lies in it being a legal tool that can be used in international forums, which allows for the possibility of activating international accountability against Israeli officials for these crimes.
He added that this document fills a gap that the Israeli occupation has long exploited, which is the absence of systematic documentation linking the crimes committed to the requirements of international humanitarian law and human rights conventions. He explained that the report strengthens the legitimacy of Palestinian demands for international justice and gives the Palestinian issue new momentum in the face of attempts to remove it from the global agenda.
The researcher stressed that this step comes within Türkiye’s ongoing efforts to support the Palestinian cause, not only on the humanitarian level, but also through the use of diplomatic and legal tools that pressure the international community to assume its responsibilities.
