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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.
Shortly after, two of the party's founding lawmakers delivered the paperwork to the Interior Ministry with the formalities due to be completed within the coming hours.
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."
In a social media post on X, Ozel said, "It is our nation that founded the New Party. The Worker’s New Party. The Retiree’s New Party. The Civil Servant’s New Party. The Tradesman’s New Party. The Farmer’s New Party. Women’s New Party. Youth’s New Party. Türkiye's New Party… May it be auspicious and bring good fortune."
With 91 lawmakers, New Party will be the second largest grouping in Türkiye's 600-seat parliament after Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which holds 277 seats.
Until now, the CHP had been the second largest party with 135 lawmakers. However, with the resignations, that number drops to 44, leaving it in fourth place after the pro-Kurdish opposition DEM party, which has 56 seats.
Hailing it as a "critical day" for Turkish politics, Ozel vowed his new party would fight for democracy in a brief address outside a mosque in capital Ankara's historical centre where he attended Friday prayers.
Asked about resigning from a party he had been a part of since 2009, he admitted it "wasn't easy, but some difficulties must be overcome before embarking on the right path."
He then went to meet the party's founding committee to establish its structure and governing bodies at the Anatolian Club, a historical social club set up 100 years ago by Türkiye's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
In his last speech to CHP lawmakers on Tuesday, Ozel said Türkiye stood at "a historic crossroads".
"In politics, we do not give up on our beliefs; instead, we all take on a difficult and risky burden for the country's sake," Ozel said, using a Turkish idiom about "putting on a shirt of fire".
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.
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