Once Türkiye’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) is now a pale shadow of its former self after former Chair Özgür Özel left the party and founded the New Party (YP). Lawmakers and other members resigned from the CHP en masse to join Özel in his new party, but party sources say most of them were not longtime members of Türkiye’s oldest political party. Instead, a significant portion of those who resigned had joined the CHP during Özel’s tenure as chairperson, which began after an intraparty election in November 2023.
The CHP and the YP have been engaged in a bitter dispute since Özel sought to reclaim the chairmanship he lost following a court ruling in May. Özel appealed the verdict, while his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, returned to office and pledged to weed out “corrupt” members, referring to officials close to Özel whose names became entangled in corruption investigations. Before and after Özel established the YP, a wave of resignations and expulsions swept through the CHP.
The YP claims that nearly 700,000 people have resigned from the CHP, while CHP officials reject that figure and maintain that resignations have largely come to a halt. As the debate continues, the CHP leadership is also carrying out an internal review of the resignations. According to the CHP’s findings, the vast majority of recent resignations involve individuals who joined the party between 2024 and 2026, during Özgür Özel’s tenure as chairperson. Approximately 450,000 new members joined the CHP during that period.
Shortly after assuming the party leadership, Özgür Özel carried out what was described as a historic purge of supporters of former Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Between 2024 and 2026, he expelled nearly 2,500 party members and placed newcomers, many of whom had never previously been part of the CHP’s ranks, in key positions within a significant number of local party organizations.
It is alleged that the majority of recent resignations from the CHP involve these “stacked members,” who were reportedly recruited by certain local political figures close to Özel in order to secure victories in internal party elections. It is also claimed that nearly all of those who resigned belong to the same group that has been helping establish the YP’s new local organizations.
