The municipal elections last year dealt a final blow to smaller opposition parties in Türkiye that struggled to make a name for themselves in a crowded political landscape. Resignations and the possibility of a new alliance among opposition underdogs laid bare the efforts of those parties to stay relevant in this landscape dominated by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the main opposition Republican People’s Party. The Good Party (IP) hints at a new alliance with the far-right Victory Party (ZP), while two prominent lawmakers from the Future Party (GP) announced their resignation on Saturday, complaining that the party had become a failure.
Turhan Çömez, deputy parliamentary group chair of IP, was quoted on Saturday that they were open to an “integrated alliance” between nationalist parties, upon a question about whether they would consider aligning with ZP. Çömez is a former lawmaker from the AK Party who switched sides to IP, which was founded by former members of AK Party ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). ZP was founded by another group of former MHP members. IP scored only 3.7% of the vote in 2024 municipal elections, ranking sixth among other parties, a result that paved the way for an intraparty election which ultimately led to the replacement of chairwoman Meral Akşener with current chair Müsavat Dervişoğlu. Çömez said IP was a party based upon “nationalist values,” but they were also a “center” party.
ZP and IP have overlapping political stances, although ZP stood out with its more hawkish tone, especially in anti-refugee policies that led to an indictment against its chair, Ümit Özdağ, on charges of inciting riots against Syrian refugees. Özdağ was recently released from prison, and though he has not commented yet on a future alliance, ZP may be more receptive than any other party. The party has courted the main opposition CHP in the 2023 elections and reportedly bargained with the party’s presidential candidate, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, for support in exchange for seats in the Cabinet. Kılıçdaroğlu, who was also supported by five other parties, including IP and GP, ultimately lost to incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
As a matter of fact, Erdoğan’s victory over Kılıçdaroğlu, which made him the longest-serving leader of Türkiye, triggered a soul-searching process among opposition parties. Kılıçdaroğlu was ousted from his seat in an intraparty election in November 2023, while other parties saw lawmakers switching allegiances, including to the AK Party.
GP, formed by the AK Party’s former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, also lost some lawmakers to the AK Party after the 2023 elections and formed a parliamentary bloc with the Felicity Party (SP), another party which replaced its longstanding chair after the 2023 elections, and Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) under the name of New Path.
Selim Temurci and Isa Mesih Şahin, co-founders of GP and Istanbul lawmakers, were apparently disappointed with this “new path.” Two lawmakers issued a joint resignation letter on Saturday, citing that the “current situation” of GP forced them to resign. “Our party had potential, but it now evolved into a political structure seeking to find a place for itself based on political conjuncture. It even gave up its name in its bid to join unorganic political alliances,” the lawmakers said in their letter.
