Deposed Turkish opposition leader forms ‘New Party’ to challenge Erdogan
The breakaway group says the new party will become parliament’s main opposition, with 91 lawmakers and a challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
- On Tuesday, opposition leader Ozgur Ozel announced his resignation from the Republican People's Party to establish a new political movement after a court order stripped him of his chairmanship.
- An appeals court ruling in May 2026 annulled the 2023 party congress vote, citing irregularities, and reinstated former leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, effectively stripping Ozel of his leadership role.
- Addressing more than 80 lawmakers, Ozel described the ruling as a politically motivated "coup" amid a two-year legal crackdown, expecting many of the 135 CHP legislators to defect.
- Criminal investigations alleging corruption in CHP-run municipalities have led to hundreds of detentions, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, imprisoned since March last year.
- Analysts suggest this internal chaos could boost President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's prospects for the 2028 election, while the government denies judicial interference and the new party Yeni Parti launches this week.
106 Articles
106 Articles
Excluded from the leadership of the CHP by a court decision at the end of May, Özgür Özel announced on Friday 24 July the creation of a new party in Ankara. This break with the Kemalist party founded in 1923 by Atatürk has already won the support of 91 members of the parliamentary group.
The deposed opposition politician was unanimously elected.
After the arrests and sentences that weakened them, the ruling class of the Chp reorganizes: 95 MPs follow the former leader dismissed and adhere to the nascent New Party
Özel signed the founding documents for the New Party (Yeni Parti) with 90 other former 135 CHP MPs
Turkey: Persecuted Opposition Leader to Create Breakaway Party to Challenge Erdogan
In this FrontPage Magazine article, Christine Douglass-Williams reports that persecuted Turkish opposition leader Özgür Özel is launching a breakaway party to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, potentially uniting the opposition and threatening Erdoğan’s hold on power ahead of the 2028 election. Özgür Özel, the deposed leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), announced...
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- 37% of the sources lean Left, 37% of the sources lean Right
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