🔶Ousted leader of Turkey’s opposition party is creating a new party

About two months after his removal as leader of Turkey’s largest opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Özgür Özel announced that he plans to establish a new political party.

In a speech at the CHP parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, Özel said he would meet with the party’s local heads today, inform the party’s council of his decision, and then begin the process of forming the new party.

He said: “Today we are on the verge of a painful farewell; a farewell that has become inevitable and its time has come. However, we want to tell the public that we keep within ourselves hope for a fresh beginning.”

Özel announced his decision, in part, because the Turkish Court of Cassation has entered its summer recess without addressing his appeal against his removal.

Turkish media have reported that Özel intends to submit an official request to establish the new party to the Ministry of Interior next week. According to these reports, this organization may choose the name “New Party” for itself.