Ninety lawmakers, led by former Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel, resigned from Türkiye's main opposition party on Friday, formalizing the biggest split in the party's recent history and paving the way for the launch of a new political movement.
The resignations came days after Özel announced during his final CHP parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday that he would establish a new political party following a prolonged internal leadership dispute.
Özel signed the founding documents of the new party on Friday, officially initiating the legal process for its establishment.
The new political movement will be called the "New Party" (Yeni Parti). A total of 91 lawmakers who resigned alongside Özel joined the party's founding board.
The party's registration documents were scheduled to be submitted to the Interior Ministry later in the day.
Özel also updated the biography on his X account, replacing it with a photo of himself standing on a tractor in the central province of Yozgat alongside the logo of the "New Party," a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the quote, "The peasant is the master of the nation."
Speaking to reporters outside the First Turkish Grand National Assembly building after Friday prayers at Hacı Bayram Mosque in Ankara, Özel said the party had officially submitted its founding documents and received the registration certificate.
"With our 91 lawmakers, we are now heading to the Anadolu Club, which was established 100 years ago under the instructions of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. There, the Founding Board will hold its first meeting to elect the party chair and other governing bodies," he said.
"By the end of the day, we will have announced the New Party, its Party Assembly, its chairperson and informed Parliament that our parliamentary group has been established," he noted.
He added that the New Party would participate in the upcoming budget negotiations as the main opposition "for the first and last time," pledging that the party would eventually form a government that would deliver prosperity and stability.
On the other hand, the developments will significantly reshape the balance of power in Parliament.
The CHP, which currently holds 135 seats, will drop to 44 after the departure of the 91 lawmakers. As a result, the CHP will lose its status as the main opposition party, while Özel's New Party will become Parliament's largest opposition force by seat count.
The seating arrangement in the General Assembly is expected to be reorganized, and the number of parliamentary groups will increase to seven.
The breakaway follows months of internal turmoil within the CHP after Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu returned to the party leadership following a court ruling that invalidated the previous party congress, a decision widely referred to in Turkish political circles as the "absolute nullity" ruling.
CHP spokesperson, Müslim Sarı, told reporters on Wednesday that the new party being established by Özel was no different from the CHP in terms of its policies, pointing to Özel's recent speech in which he said the new party would adhere to the same principles as the CHP. "If you are going down the same path, why do you need a new party?" he questioned.
"It seems like they are more interested in having a seat in a new party than advancing their policies," he stressed.
