ANKARA - A group of opposition MPs led by Ozgur Ozel formally launched a new political organization on Friday, submitting an application to the interior ministry and seeking to reconstitute their challenge to President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party.
The move follows a May court ruling that annulled the Republican People’s Party (CHP) 2023 congress and removed Ozel from his position as CHP chairman. In response, Ozel and 90 colleagues resigned from the CHP this week and applied to create the so-called New Party as a vehicle to regroup.
By Friday afternoon the office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals had confirmed the New Party among active political parties in Turkey, according to information on the prosecutor office website.
Parliamentary arithmetic now places the New Party as the second-largest grouping in the 600-seat assembly, behind Erdogan 1s conservative AK Party, which holds 277 seats. The New Party has emerged from a reduced CHP parliamentary base that previously counted 135 lawmakers.
Fragmentation and parliamentary shifts
Forty-four MPs remain within the CHP. That number includes some who have backed Ozel in the internal dispute and others who support Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a former party chairman whom the court re-appointed to lead the CHP. Kilicdaroglu is described within the party as a divisive figure, and the split has left the opposition politically fragmented.
Party strategists and MPs involved in the new formation framed the launch as both a protest and a fresh start. "Today will be a significant milestone in Turkish political history," Ankara MP Murat Emir said to reporters after he and others submitted the registration paperwork. "We are leaving an occupied party behind."
Leadership, candidate strategy and legal hurdles
Following their first formal meeting in Ankara, Ozel told reporters the New Party intends to endorse jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as its presidential candidate in the next national vote, currently scheduled for 2028 but subject to being called earlier.
Ozel said Imamoglu "was not elected as the presidential candidate by a single political party, but by more than 15 million people." Imamoglu, who is the mayor of Istanbul and a prominent rival to Erdogan, has been detained and held pending trial on corruption charges that he denies for more than a year.
Imamoglu was chosen as the CHP presidential candidate in an internal party vote held days after his detention in March 2025. The article of record states that Istanbul University annulled his university diploma a day before he was detained, a development that Ozel acknowledged creates a legal obstacle to registering Imamoglu as a presidential contender.
Ozel said the New Party will work together "to take right decisions with all the dynamics of the new party, including Imamoglu and (Ankara Mayor) Mansur Yavas." Yavas, the capital mayor, is identified as another potential challenger to Erdogan.
Imamoglu posted a short message on his X account referencing Ozel s launch slogan: "Everything will be great. Let s get going, mates."
Political context and competing narratives
Rights groups and opposition figures have characterized the broader legal actions against the CHP as politically motivated and undemocratic, citing the jailing of hundreds of elected CHP officials and members since 2024. The government rejects these accusations and stresses that the judiciary operates independently.
The emergence of the New Party creates a new configuration of opposition forces. While it is expected to draw most former CHP voters and present a refreshed challenge to Erdogan, analysts and participants note that the wider splintering could also strengthen the president s prospects for retaining power by dividing opposition votes.
This development represents a substantive reordering of Turkey s parliamentary landscape, with implications for party competition and the route by which opposition figures may attempt to assemble a unified presidential challenge.