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Özgür Özel Founds Yeni Parti and Takes 91 MPs to Become Second-Largest Bloc

Özel’s 91-seat Yeni Parti could reshape opposition politics as legal probes and organisational gaps threaten its short-term viability.

Özgür Özel
Der abgesetzte türkische Oppositionsführer Özgür Özel hat mit dutzenden weiteren Abgeordneten seine linksnationalistische Partei CHP für die Gründung einer neuen Partei verlassen. Er unterzeichnete Papiere für die Gründung der Neuen Partei.
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Overview

  • Özgür Özel formally launched the Yeni Parti after filing founding documents with the Interior Ministry on Friday, July 24, 2026, and published a short video showing him signing the papers.
  • Ninety other MPs left the Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi with Özel, creating a 91-member Yeni Parti faction that the coverage says will be the second-largest bloc in the 600-seat Grand National Assembly while the AKP retains 277 seats.
  • Early television 'flash' polls reported roughly 30 percent of respondents saying they might back the new party, but the Yeni Parti must still build national structures, local branches and a formal leadership beyond Özel to convert polling into votes.
  • Özel faces immediate legal pressure: multiple investigations are open against him and parliamentary motions to lift his immunity have been filed, a risk that could sideline the new party’s founder if prosecutions proceed.
  • The split follows months of judicial moves against the CHP since its 2024 local gains, including a May court decision that removed Özel from CHP leadership, and the new party’s rise could both redraw opposition dynamics and complicate governance in CHP-held municipalities where officials have been detained.