27.08.2026 12:50
Türkiye has requested a red notice from Interpol for Netanyahu and 34 others. What does the red notice's binding nature and its impact on political assessments and travel restrictions mean? An international law expert explained the meaning and political implications of the red notice request.
Associate Professor Dr. Ali Osman Karaoğlu, a faculty member of the Department of International Law at Yalova University Faculty of Law, explained what it means to request a red notice for Netanyahu.
As a result of the investigation launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on November 7, 2025, against Israeli officials, the prepared indictment was accepted, and a case was filed against 35 people, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the Istanbul 11th Heavy Penal Court.
At this stage of the case, arrest warrants were issued for the defendants, and upon the initiative of the relevant ministries, a red notice was requested from Interpol for Netanyahu and Afek Moskovitch, two of the defendants.
Associate Professor Dr. Ali Osman Karaoğlu, a faculty member of the Department of International Law at Yalova University Faculty of Law, stated that in this context, it is important to understand what a red notice is, how it is applied, and its possible impact.
Karaoğlu's analysis is as follows:
THE MEANING OF A RED NOTICE
Interpol, officially known as the International Criminal Police Organization, is an intergovernmental international organization and currently has 196 members. Interpol helps police forces in all member countries work in cooperation, coordinates the sharing of information about crimes and criminals, and provides operational support. In this context, a red notice, one of the cooperation procedures among member countries, is a request to the law enforcement authorities of member countries for the extradition, surrender, location, or provisional arrest of a person. A red notice is based on an arrest warrant or court decision issued by the judicial authorities of the requesting country. The red notice itself is not an arrest warrant.
"THE REQUEST IS THE BEGINNING OF THE PROCESS"
Requesting a red notice from Interpol is essentially only the beginning of the process. Requests are first examined by a special unit established within Interpol, which assesses whether the request complies with Interpol's rules. For example, according to Article 3 of the Constitution of the ICPO-INTERPOL: "It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial character." More clearly, Interpol can characterize a request as "political" and reject it.
WHAT HAPPENS IF A "REJECTION" IS GIVEN?
However, considering that there is also an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for defendant Netanyahu, Interpol's rejection of Turkey's request would cause controversy. Because Interpol's "decision to reject the request based on its political nature" could also be considered political.
Secondly, if Interpol accepts the request and issues a red notice, structural situations will come into play. By its nature, Interpol does not have direct enforcement authority over the law enforcement forces of member countries. More clearly, Interpol cannot conduct operations in member countries. Each member country has the authority to evaluate the red notice according to its own domestic law and preferences. Therefore, the apprehension of a person subject to a notice can only be put into practice if the relevant country provides legal cooperation.
"A NOTIFICATION OF HIGH IMPORTANCE"
From this perspective, Interpol's red notice decision is essentially a "notification of high importance." The aim is to increase cooperation among the law enforcement forces of member countries and to combat crime. However, looking at Interpol's Constitution, a member country's failure to apprehend a person subject to a red notice does not create any international responsibility. Of course, this does not mean that the Interpol system does not work. Member countries value cooperation as much as possible and try to implement red notice decisions. However, in terms of bindingness, Interpol differs from the ICC. According to the Rome Statute, states parties are obliged to execute arrest warrants issued by the ICC. Otherwise, they are considered to have violated the Rome Statute.
For example, Netanyahu, for whom an arrest warrant was issued by the ICC, visited Hungary, a party to the Rome Statute, between April 3-6, 2025, but was not arrested by Hungary. Following this, on July 24, 2025, the ICC ruled that Hungary had violated the Rome Statute. Indeed, in the ICC system, subjecting arrest warrants to national assessment is not accepted. States parties cannot refuse to execute an ICC arrest warrant by citing their domestic law or any other reason. In contrast, in the Interpol system, the domestic laws and preferences of member states are at the forefront. Member states can avoid making an arrest by taking into account their domestic law or any other matter. At this point, it is not possible for Interpol to impose sanctions or issue a decision on violation.
THE IMPACT OF THE RED NOTICE
It would also be a wrong approach to regard the red notice decision as completely ineffective. Because the issuance of a red notice brings with it the possibility that individuals subject to the red notice could potentially be apprehended in any of the 196 countries. This naturally makes traveling to those countries risky. If a red notice is issued, Netanyahu and Moskovitch would travel to any of the 196 Interpol member countries by assuming this risk. Indeed, a similar situation is also experienced before the ICC. Netanyahu's plane does not pass through the airspace of countries party to the Rome Statute unless special guarantees are obtained. In fact, Netanyahu's visit to Hungary took place as a result of Viktor Orban's government giving a special guarantee that Netanyahu would not be arrested.
In this sense, Netanyahu and Moskovitch will be similarly affected by Turkey's issuance of a red notice and will plan their travel accordingly. Every plan and visit, like the Hungary visit, will cause a political and diplomatic crisis. In this context, the possibility of Interpol member countries having to give political account to their own people and the international public opinion should not be underestimated. Being in opposition to a red notice issued due to the crimes committed by the Israeli defendants against Gazans and those trying to deliver aid to Gaza would be a political stance that many states would find difficult to justify. Member countries that do not implement the red notice, on top of all this, will have to risk a diplomatic crisis with Turkey, which issued the red notice.