Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) Chair Taha Ayhan presented President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the document containing the judgment of the Gaza Tribunal.
The tribunal, a global and independent initiative, investigated Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, aiming to address the shortcomings of international bodies in stopping such crimes.
Erdoğan received Ayhan on Friday in Istanbul, where the final session of the tribunal was convened in October 2025 under the presidency of Richard Falk, the former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian territories.
The Turkish president is an outspoken advocate of the Palestinian cause and exerted diplomatic efforts to halt Israel’s attacks in Gaza since 2023, accusing the Netanyahu administration of committing genocide. Elsewhere, Türkiye joined South Africa to bring genocide accusations to the spotlight, through a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICYF said in a statement that the tribunal, which held sessions in London, Sarajevo and Istanbul, brought together a large number of participants, from jurists, scholars and expert witnesses. In the Istanbul final session, some 3,000 participants joined the Tribunal, which heard 70 expert and victim-witness presentations, alongside eye-witness video testimonies.
“In its Final Judgement delivered in Istanbul on 26 October 2025, the Jury of Conscience concluded that the occupying state and its accomplices are responsible for the ongoing genocide and related crimes, including starvation, ecocide, domicide, attacks on healthcare, journalists, education and the destruction of civilian life. In the next phase, the Gaza Tribunal will continue to present its findings to governments, heads of state, and foreign ministers worldwide, and share them through parliamentary sessions, UN and multilateral forums, as well as universities and civil society platforms. The judgement and the body of evidence will also support proceedings before the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the ICJ,” ICYF said.
The forum thanked Erdoğan for his principled stance on the genocide in Gaza and his support for justice and accountability.
