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Ozgur Ozel, the ousted leader of Türkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), formally resigned from the party Tuesday and announced he will establish a new one, declaring it will become the main opposition force in parliament "by a wide margin."
The announcement, delivered in a fiery farewell address to CHP lawmakers in parliament, marks a historic rupture in Türkiye's 103-year-old founding party, two months after a court ruling removed Ozel from the chairmanship and reinstated his predecessor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
"Today, we are on the brink of a sad farewell that has become inevitable and whose time has come. However, we would like to share with the people that we carry the hope of a new beginning," Ozel told the parliamentary group meeting, entering the hall with the words "every ending is a beginning."
"We are forming our new party tomorrow, taking its first step alongside lawmakers elected and entrusted by the nation. With this new establishment, we will become the largest opposition party in the Grand National Assembly by a wide margin," he said. Bidding farewell to the CHP's group podium, he added: "We are never abandoning the main opposition rostrum, and we are counting the days until we reach the ruling party's podium."
Ozel did not announce the new party's name.
In May, a Turkish court annulled the CHP's 2023 congress that elected Ozel as chairman, citing irregularities, and reinstated Kilicdaroglu, the party's former leader.
The Court of Cassation is expected to take up the appeals case over the congress annulment in September.
Ozel, who led the CHP for nearly three years, said the country stands at "a historic crossroads" and argued the party is now "under occupation ... squeezed between the annulment ruling and the palace walls."
"We left the building, but we took the legacy with us. The authority and the mandate are with us. The understanding of the tradition that founded the Republic is with us," he said, casting the new party as "the continuation of the struggle" rather than a departure: "This is not a separation or a surrender. These are the steps to carry the march to power forward more strongly in Türkiye."
He closed with a call to his supporters: "If it is going to break, it will break at its thinnest point. Either one behaves like a CHP member, or one sits on instructions taken from the palace. Are you ready for this new march? Together on this new road, we will march to power."
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