Deposed Turkish opposition leader plans new party

Ozgur Ozel hopes to launch new main opposition after court removed him as leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) .Turkiye’s opposition leader Ozgur Ozel has announced a plan to form a new political party after he was ousted from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).Ozel made the announcement in a speech in parliament on Tuesday. Ozel was ousted as leader of his former party by court order in May, amid what the opposition has called a crackdown by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Turkish court ousts leader of main opposition partylist 2 of 3Court throws out corruption case seeking to oust Turkish opposition leaderlist 3 of 3Turkiye court charges jailed opposition leader with ‘political espionage’end of listThe former CHP chief said his new political project marked “the hope of a new beginning” in efforts to depose Turkiye’s long-time leader.The new party, whose name has not yet been announced, is expected to trigger an exodus of voters and parliamentarians from the secularist CHP, which was founded more than a century ago by modern Turkiye’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.Turkiye’s opposition has been facing a series of legal problems, with hundreds of elected municipal officials and members jailed since late 2024.“We are establishing our new party by taking the first step together with the deputies chosen by our nation,” said Ozel. “These are the determined steps of a march toward governing Turkiye.”The move comes two months after an appeals court stripped Ozel of his title as CHP chairman and reinstated the party’s former and unpopular leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.Many of the CHP’s 135 legislators in the 600‑seat parliament were expected to defect and join the new party, which Ozel said would become the parliament’s main opposition “by a wide margin”.However, some have suggested that a new Ozel-led party could play into Erdogan’s hands by splitting opposition forces.