By Nergis Demirkaya
Following the “absolute nullity” ruling ousting Özgür Özel from the CHP leadership, the expected finally happened: 91 lawmakers led by Özel left the CHP to establish the Yeni Party.
More than 200 mayors are also expected to join in the coming weeks. Although the Yeni Party has made a strong debut, questions remain over whether it can surpass the CHP it left behind and transform the public support it currently enjoys into electoral success. Only time will answer those questions, but the party administration is confident. They believe the key lies in what they call the Turkey Alliance.
Legally, the Yeni Party is now established. But its real birth will come when it completes its organization in all 81 provinces and earns the legal right to run in elections. Party officials describe the coming two to three months as a 'political founding process,' arguing that this period will produce an organization that genuinely deserves to be called a new party.
For Özel's leadership, 'real renewal' means fundamentally reshaping both the party's management and its organizational structure. The first stage is to recruit entirely new figures into the administration with the help of lawmakers. The Yeni Party will not simply become a home for defectors from the CHP, a member of the party’s new Central Executive Board (CEB) told Turkey in Depth. A deliberate effort will be made to bring in fresh faces, reaching beyond career politicians to people from different segments of society who may be entering politics for the first time. As the same official said, 'The people put us on the path of founding this new party, but they won't stop there. They will also come and help build it.'
The greatest political asset of the founders of Yeni Party is the success they achieved in the March 31 local elections. According to the team that turned the CHP into Turkey's biggest party in those elections, the key was the Turkey Alliance strategy. The Yeni Party intends to organize itself around the same principle: bringing together nationalists, Kurds, conservatives, and social democrats under one political umbrella.
From this perspective, the Party Assembly and CEB established at the founding stage are transitional bodies. After completing the provincial congresses and the party’s grand congress, an administration that better reflects the Turkey Alliance will be achieved. If the party's ambitious rhetoric is any indication, the Yeni Party's current identity — shaped largely by the left, social democrats, and secular nationalists — is expected to broaden as other segments of society join its ranks. 'Conservative and nationalist figures will not be there merely for show. They will be genuine partners, standing shoulder to shoulder in the common struggle against authoritarian rule,” a new member says.
PLANS TO BECOME NEW
Yeni Party Chair Özel has reinforced this approach. He describes the party as 'a coalition formed to save Turkey's future' and is calling on nationalists, conservatives, Kurds, socialists, and all democrats across Turkey to support the project.
The political logic behind this strategy is rooted in Turkey's presidential system. Under the current system, the success of a presidential candidate matters more than a party's parliamentary vote share. Party strategists believe that a political movement extending beyond the CHP's traditional base offers the best chance of winning the presidency. They argue that if the Yeni Party succeeds in embracing Turkey's diverse social groups, its eventual presidential candidate could unite the broader opposition in either the first or second round.
For now, these remain the aspirations of the Yeni Party's founders. Politics, however, is shaped not only by ideals but also by entrenched habits, personal ambitions, ideological rigidity, and institutional weaknesses. Their objectives will not be easy to achieve. Nevertheless, opinion surveys suggest that the social support they enjoy gives them a genuine opportunity. Whether they can turn that opportunity into political success will become clear over the roughly 18 months remaining until the next election.
A LEADERSHIP BATTLE LOOMS INSIDE THE CHP
Meanwhile, the CHP, reduced to just 44 lawmakers after the split, has already suffered its first major political loss: surrendering the position of Turkey's main opposition party, which it had held for the past 24 years. Many expected tensions inside the party to ease after the departure of Özel and his allies, but the opposite has happened. Lawmakers who chose to remain in the CHP have already clashed with party Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, accusing him of intervening in the parliamentary group leadership election to secure the victory of his preferred candidate.
Around 20 MPs are expected to issue a joint declaration protesting this intervention. If they do, the statement is expected to mark not only a protest but also the opening of a leadership contest against Kılıçdaroğlu. Ranging from Oğuz Kaan Salıcı to Gürsel Erol, perhaps four or five candidates could challenge Kılıçdaroğlu. In the CHP, long known as the 'father's home,' one son has chosen to walk away entirely, while those who stayed behind now appear ready to challenge the father himself.
