The New Party (YENİ Parti) has been formally constituted. Özgür Özel has been chosen as Chairman. This action has also altered the parliamentary arithmetic. The CHP, which saw 91 MPs quit, has dropped to fifth place in parliament, with the NEW Party assuming the role of main opposition party.
After being dismissed from the CHP leadership by an absolute nullity judgement, Özgür Özel and 91 other MPs resigned and created the NEW PARTY (YENİ Parti).
The new party’s foundation paperwork and application were filed today to both the Ministry of Interior and the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly.
The party’s Founding Committee consists of Özel and 91 members of parliament.
Images of Özel signing the paperwork were provided to the press, and he was allegedly heard stating, “May it be beneficial to the country, the nation, our party, and all of us.”
Meanwhile, in order to complete the process by today, the signing and paperwork continued until midnight last night. It took approximately 50 minutes for one member of parliament to sign the hundreds of pages of founding documents.
Following their resignations, the MPs removed CHP logos from their social media accounts.
Which symbols were chosen for the new party?
The date chosen for the submission of the new party’s founding petition is July 24th, the date of the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, which is considered Türkiye’s “deed of ownership”.
In addition, today Özel and the party founders went to Hacı Bayram Mosque for Friday prayers. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had prayed at the same mosque before going to the Grand National Assembly on April 23, 1920 .
Following Friday prayers, Özgür Özel was elected chairman of the NEW Party at a meeting held at the Anatolian Club. Özel received all the votes. Ali Mahir Başarır, Murat Emir, and Gökhan Günaydın became Deputy Group Chairmen.
Anadolu Club was founded in 1926 on the instructions of Atatürk, and İsmet İnönü became the club’s first president.
How is parliamentary arithmetic changing?
The new party will alter the current political balance, notably the allocation of seats in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
With 91 MPs departing the CHP, the party now has 44 MPs, slipping from second to fifth position in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
Some of the 44 surviving CHP MPs are hostile to General Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was chosen through a nullity judgement, resulting in a lack of party unity.
Some of these people support Özel but are “waiting within the CHP” to take control the party again if the Supreme Court lifts the injunction in early October.
Some CHP members oppose Kılıçdaroğlu or want to succeed him as leader. It is expected that around 20 MPs totally back Kılıçdaroğlu during this procedure.
The MPs who defected to the New Party stated, “We all joined the New Party collectively; the remaining CHP is divided internally.”
What will the donation and convention processes be like?
Since the NEW Party is still in its founding stages and has not yet participated in any elections, it will not receive treasury funding. Lacking access to CHP’s resources, the party is expected to launch a fundraising campaign.
However, considering the pressure from the government, great care will be taken to conduct this campaign in a very transparent manner . According to the Political Parties Law, a Turkish citizen can donate a maximum of 634,000 TL to any political party in a year. This amount is the figure set for 2026.
Meanwhile, the former building of the Future Party in Mustafa Kemal Neighborhood in Ankara has been rented for the party’s headquarters.
Following the submission of the party’s formation application, organisational efforts will commence quickly. While CHP organisations are likely to shift to the New Party, the party must have organisations in at least 41 provinces and convene a grand congress at least six months before the election to be eligible to participate.
According to information gathered by DW Turkish, work will begin soon to conclude the party congress, with the objective of finishing it over the summer months.
