(Adnkronos) – Mass resignations in the Chp, the main opposition party in Turkey, after 91 deputies decided to follow former group leader Ozgur Ozel, ready to form his own party to challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ozel’s decision comes after an Ankara court on May 21 removed him as leader of the Chp, the Republican People’s Party, and reinstated his predecessor Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who lost the elections for the leadership of Turkey’s oldest party, sparking widespread discontent over what was seen as an attempt to stifle the opposition.
In a video posted on ‘X’, Ozel appears seated at his desk, with the Turkish flag behind him, first signing his resignation from the Chp and then the founding documents of the “Yeni Parti” or “New Party”. Shortly after, two parliamentarians delivered the documents to the Ministry of Interior. The date was not chosen by chance, as July 24, 1923, was when the Treaty of Lausanne, which established the borders of modern Turkey, was signed. With 91 deputies, the Yeni Parti will be the second largest group in the Turkish parliament, composed of 600 seats, after Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (Akp), which holds 277.
Calling it a “crucial day” for Turkish politics, Ozel promised that his new party would fight for democracy, in a brief speech held outside a mosque in Ankara’s historic center, where he had attended Friday prayers. “The last word belongs to the nation, not to palaces or a single man,” he stated, referring to Erdogan. “No one can do it alone. Either we are all together or we are lost!” chanted a huge crowd, while among those present some said: “Save us from these scoundrels!”. Ozel admitted that “it was not easy” to leave the Chp, of which he had been a member since 2009, “but some difficulties must be overcome before embarking on the right path.”
“We hope that today represents a very important milestone in Turkish political history,” MP Murat Emir told reporters after leaving the Ministry of Interior, promising that the party “will dispel this darkness that has fallen upon our country” and work to build a “more just” Turkey. Until now, the Chp was the second largest party in the Turkish parliament with 135 deputies. However, with the resignation of 91 deputies, the number drops to 44, leaving it in fourth place after the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (Dem), which has 56 seats.
In his last speech to Chp parliamentarians on Tuesday, Ozel stated that Turkey is at a “historic crossroads.” “In politics, we do not give up our convictions. On the contrary, we all take on a difficult and risky burden for the good of the country,” he said, using a Turkish expression meaning “to wear a shirt of fire.” Ozel became leader of the Chp at a time of crisis, and five months after his arrival, the party achieved an overwhelming victory in the March 2024 local elections, defeating Erdogan’s Akp. Since then, the Chp has faced increasing legal pressure, with hundreds of officials arrested on corruption charges, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, considered one of the few capable of defeating Erdogan in presidential elections. To date, at least 27 Chp mayors are in prison.
