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Ozgur Ozel signed the founding documents of the Yeni Party (New Party) and resigned from Türkiye's Republican People's Party (CHP) on Friday, taking 91 lawmakers, including himself, with him and cutting the century-old party's parliamentary presence to 44 seats.
Ozel, who served as CHP group chairman after a court reinstated Kemal Kilicdaroglu to the party chairmanship, announced his resignation in a video showing him signing the Yeni Party's founding paperwork.
"May it be blessed for the homeland, the nation, our party, and all of us," Ozel said at the end of the video.
A total of 90 CHP lawmakers resigned alongside Ozel and joined the Yeni Party's Founders' Council. Following the announcement, Ozel changed his profile photo on X and removed the title "CHP Chairman" from his account.
The exodus reduces the CHP, Türkiye's founding party, to 44 seats in parliament, while the Yeni Party's 91-strong bloc would rank as the chamber's second-largest group behind the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), delivering on Ozel's vow that his party would become the main opposition "by a wide margin."
The founding caps a rupture that began in May, when a Turkish court annulled the CHP's 2023 congress that elected Ozel as chairman, citing irregularities, and reinstated Kilicdaroglu.
The Court of Cassation is expected to take up the appeal over the annulment in September.
There was no immediate comment from the CHP under Kilicdaroglu.
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