Justice Minister Akın Gürlek highlighted the plight of Palestinians at an international summit by the OECD in Istanbul on Wednesday.
Gürlek said OECD countries must speak out forcefully to defend the rights of 1.5 million people displaced in Gaza, calling for a global justice system that would put an end to vandalism by Israeli settlers, who are backed by the state and cannot even tolerate Palestinian-owned olive trees, a universal symbol of peace.
Speaking at the 2026 OECD Global Roundtable on Equal Access to Justice in Istanbul, Gürlek welcomed the OECD’s efforts to bring participants together around the principle that justice is fundamental to economic development. Recalling the International Justice Summit held in Istanbul on Oct. 8-9, Gürlek said participants from different countries had discussed their shared responsibility to ensure that justice services, with human dignity at their core, are delivered fairly and without delay. He said the summit had produced highly beneficial results.
Gürlek recalled that Palestinian Justice Minister Sharhabil al-Zaim, who had been invited to the meeting but was not allowed to leave the country by the Israeli government, was unable to attend. He said the incident had once again demonstrated to the international public the Israeli government’s disregard for the universal justice system.
Gürlek said the people of Palestine and Gaza were those most in need of achieving the goal of access to justice for all, one of the main topics of the gathering. He stressed that this need could not be separated from the principles of peace and development that had guided the OECD’s establishment.
Referring to the organization’s origins, Gürlek said the OECD was an important international platform that had made significant efforts to promote global development and social prosperity. He noted that it had particularly contributed to strengthening Europe’s position in the global economy and helping the continent serve as a model through its development policies.
He said Europe needed the OECD’s effective presence more than ever, citing youth movements in France, discontent caused by the rising cost of living and its social repercussions across Europe, years of war and tensions in Eastern Europe, the rise of the far right, growing risks related to energy costs and economic stagnation as major developments putting pressure on the global economy. Gürlek stressed that these developments were increasing social unrest and anxiety about the future while putting at risk the universal values embraced by developed societies. At a time when many humanitarian values were struggling to find practical expression, he said, the situation increased the likelihood of more serious problems and negatively affected people’s expectations regarding access to justice.
Gürlek said Türkiye had joined the OECD as a founding member and had sincerely supported international peace in every field, including the economic and political spheres, and would continue to do so.
“We attach great importance to the fundamental purposes for which international organizations are established. As the Republic of Türkiye, we fully understand the importance of sincerely contributing to these collective cooperation efforts for global peace and a global justice order,” he said.
Emphasizing that one of the most important pillars of global peace was the effective functioning of a universal legal system that protects human dignity, Gürlek said well-functioning justice systems were essential to maintaining social order, sustaining economic activity and ensuring security.
He said countries in an increasingly globalized world needed stronger cooperation in every field. “Therefore, global stability requires shared development models, trade relations, secure logistics routes, cultural exchanges, the equitable distribution of natural resources, the convergence of knowledge and technology on common ground and, most importantly, the proper and timely implementation of the global justice system,” he said. “When the global justice system has all the necessary infrastructure and rights are protected through a universal approach that recognizes no borders, it will become a vital lifeline sustaining global peace.”