Ousted CHP Leader Özgür Özel Resigns to Launch New Opposition Party in Türkiye

ANKARA — Ousted as leader of Türkiye’s main opposition party, Özgür Özel resigned from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Friday alongside 90 other lawmakers to establish a new political force aimed at challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

In a video broadcast by Turkish media and posted on X, Özel was shown sitting at a desk flanked by a large Turkish flag, signing both his resignation papers and the founding documents for “Yeni Parti,” or “New Party.” “May it be beneficial to our country, our nation, our party, and all of us,” he said.

Officials stated the paperwork for the new party would be submitted to the Interior Ministry around noon. With 91 lawmakers, Yeni Parti instantly becomes the second-largest bloc in Türkiye’s 600-seat parliament, trailing only Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which holds 277 seats.

The CHP, previously the second-largest party with 135 lawmakers, is reduced to 44 seats, dropping to fourth place behind the pro-Kurdish opposition DEM Party, which holds 56 seats.

Özel’s departure follows a court ruling two months ago that annulled his election as CHP leader and reinstated his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The decision sparked widespread anger within Türkiye’s oldest political party. Although Özel appealed, procedural delays prevented the paperwork from reaching the Supreme Court before the summer recess, prompting his decision to form a new party.

‘A Shirt of Fire’

The Ankara court annulled the CHP’s 2023 leadership congress over allegations of vote-buying, a move widely viewed as a political maneuver to weaken Erdoğan’s opponents and raising serious concerns about democracy and the rule of law in Türkiye.

In his final address to CHP lawmakers at the party’s weekly parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday, Özel declared that Türkiye stood at “a historic crossroads.”

“The new party we are about to establish will become the main opposition force in the Grand National Assembly by a wide margin,” he told colleagues, who responded with a standing ovation. “In politics, we do not give up on our beliefs; instead, we all take on a difficult and risky burden for the country’s sake,” he added, invoking a Turkish idiom about “putting on a shirt of fire.”

Within months of Özel’s election, the CHP had reversed its fortunes, securing a landslide victory in local elections that dealt a heavy blow to the AKP. Since then, the party has faced a mounting wave of judicial pressure, with hundreds of officials arrested on graft charges. Among those detained is Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, widely considered the only politician capable of defeating Erdoğan at the ballot box. To date, at least 27 CHP mayors remain behind bars.

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