Özgür Özel Forms Yeni Parti After Mass CHP Resignations

Former Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel and 90 other lawmakers resigned from the party on July 24, 2026, to establish a new political movement called Yeni Parti. The mass defection follows an Ankara court ruling that annulled the CHP's 2023 leadership election over vote-buying allegations, removing Özel from power and reinstating Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as leader.

With 91 legislators, Yeni Parti automatically becomes the second-largest bloc in the 600-seat Grand National Assembly, trailing only President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), which holds 277 seats. The CHP's representation plummeted to 44 seats, causing it to fall behind the DEM Party and the Nationalist Movement Party in parliamentary ranking.

Özel signed the founding documents and submitted them to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with full political activities expected to begin in August or September. Supporters of the move describe the judicial actions and the imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as a politically motivated crackdown on the opposition. In contrast, CHP spokesperson Müslim Sarı criticized the split, arguing that launching another party while remaining within the CHP was not ethical and lacked an ideological alternative.