Özel embarks on a new political showdown with Erdogan

Turkish opposition leader Ozgur Ozel said today he would leave the main opposition party and form a new one, amid a legal showdown with political opponents of President Tayyip Erdogan that has lasted almost two years.

Reuters writes that the move, which was expected, represents the latest challenge to the Republican People's Party (CHP), founded more than a century ago by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Most CHP voters and MPs are expected to follow Ozel to the new party, which does not yet have a name, after a court stripped him of his chairmanship in May by annulling the CHP's 2023 congress.

In a fiery speech in parliament, Ozel said that his team's resignation from the CHP did not mean they were giving in to political pressure, but rather that they were starting a new kind of opposition action against Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey for more than two decades.

"Today we are on the threshold of a sad farewell that has become inevitable and for which the time has come. However, we want to tell the citizens that we carry within us hope for a new beginning," Ozel said in front of more than 80 CHP deputies.

The May court decision cited irregularities at the CHP congress as the reason, and reinstated Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a former leader who lost to Erdogan in the 2023 presidential election, as party chairman.

Ozel and critics have described the ruling as a politically motivated "coup", in the midst of an unprecedented legal showdown with the CHP, during which Istanbul mayor and Erdogan's main political rival Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested last year.

The government rejects such claims, saying the judiciary is independent. However, the crackdown has shaken financial markets and further fueled concerns about the state of democracy and the rule of law in Turkey.

The crisis in the opposition could boost Erdogan's chances of extending his rule in the NATO member state in elections that are due to be held by 2028. Analysts, however, believe that the elections could be called earlier if the government tries to exploit the conflicts within the CHP.