Turkey: What chances does Ozel's new opposition party have?
After being removed as head of Turkey's main opposition CHP in May, Ozgur Ozel has announced the formation of a new party. Dozens of lawmakers
After being removed as head of Turkey's main opposition CHP in May, Ozgur Ozel has announced the formation of a new party. Dozens of lawmakers have followed him, but will he be able to challenge President Erdogan? In the early morning of May 24, shocking images of Ankara were broadcast around the world. After a court ordered that Ozel be ousted as head of the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP), the country's largest opposition party, its headquarters in the Turkish capital were surrounded by special forces. The party leader and his allies had barricaded the doors with tables and chairs, but hours later they stopped resisting. "We want to avoid an escalation and are leaving of our own free will," a visibly shaken Ozel said. "Our only crime is to have defeated the ruling party." Indeed, under his leadership, the CHP had managed something it had not succeeded in doing in 22 years. It had defeated the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a nationwide election. In the local elections of March 2024, the party emerged as the strongest and took over control of city councils in 14 major cities. That included Istanbul, whose mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, quickly became so popular that he established himself as a serious challenger to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next presidential election, which is scheduled for 2028. The arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu triggered protests across the city Image: Umit Bektas/REUTERS But soon Imamoglu was arrested, alongside several other mayors and their staff. They are accused of corruption and fraud. And then in May, Ozel was removed from his position.
Two months later, he announced the formation of the Yeni Parti, or "New Party," submitting formal registration to the interior ministry. With 91 lawmakers, it is set to become the second largest party behind the AKP in Turkey's 600-seat parliament. CHP, a divided opposition party Founded in 1923 by the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the CHP is Turkey's oldest political party, standing for the separation of church and state, patriotism and republicanism. Ozel, who came from the pro-reform faction and became head in 2023, was able to open up the party to voters beyond its core base, placing more emphasis on the values of social democracy. He met with success, as the election results showed. But after Ozel was ousted, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the old party leader under whose watch the CHP had lost every election for two decades, returned. Kilicdaroglu was considered to be Erdogan's preferred opponent. Why did the CHP split? There has been much speculation as to why the party accepted the court ruling and agreed to the party being divided. Experts believe that behind the scenes, political calculations that benefit Erdogan are at play. The split will allow him to eliminate dangerous opponents ahead of the next presidential election. The conflict within the CHP dates back to 2023: After the defeat of Kilicdaroglu, who was party leader at the time, by Erdogan in the presidential election, the reformist faction led by Ozel and Imamoglu pressed the 75-year-old to step down. They prevailed at the party convention in the autumn of 2023. But in May 2026, a court declared the party convention null and void due to alleged irregularities.
The BriefWire