The CHP leadership dispute

The state of play

How it ended

For two months Türkiye's main opposition party had two men who each claimed its leadership. In May 2026 an Ankara appeals court annulled the Republican People's Party (CHP) congress of November 2023 that had elected Özgür Özel, citing irregularities, and provisionally reinstated the former chairman, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Özel called himself the elected leader; Kılıçdaroğlu held the post by the court's order.

Özel ended it by leaving. On 24 July 2026 he and 90 other members of parliament resigned from the CHP and filed the founding declaration for Yeni Parti with the Interior Ministry, 91 founders in all. The CHP held 135 seats the day before and was left with about 44. Nobody inside the party now contests Kılıçdaroğlu's leadership of it, which is what closes this record.

Parliament settled into a new shape. With 91 deputies gone, Yeni Parti became the second-largest group in the Grand National Assembly and its main opposition party, and the CHP fell to fifth: AK Party 277, Yeni Parti 91, DEM Party 56, MHP 46, CHP 44. The party that founded the republic now sits fifth in its parliament.

Both men gave their account of it. Özgür Özel, filing the papers on 24 July, said: "May it be good for the country, the nation, our party, all of us," and "It is our nation that founded Yeni Parti." Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had argued on 13 July that the departure was unnecessary, saying there was "no need for Özgür Özel to leave the party" and that he should "fight inside the party if need be, but there can be no parallel structure." Twelve days later, after the resignations, he put it differently at a member-joining ceremony in İstanbul: "The Republican People's Party is a party that had to be purified. Well, thank God that too has largely come about."

One thread outlived the dispute. Özel's appeal against the annulment is still before the Court of Cassation, Türkiye's highest court of appeals, which left a decision until after the judicial recess ends on 1 September. A ruling in his favour would find he was the lawful leader of a party he has since left, with consequences for the decisions taken in the interim. His separate application for a civil court to appoint a caretaker committee is also unresolved. Those belong to what happens to the CHP next, not to the contest recorded here, and we will cover them in their own place.

The dispute ran alongside a wider legal fight. The party's İstanbul mayor and presidential candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu, has been jailed since March 2025 and is on trial on corruption charges he denies, part of a run of cases the CHP calls politically motivated and the government says reflect an independent judiciary. This record follows the leadership thread specifically, with the related İmamoğlu case noted where it touches it.

The timeline

How it unfolded

• Fact of record
• Court ruling
• Attributed claim
• Expected

• After 1 September 2026 ExpectedThe Court of Cassation is expected to rule on the appeal against the annulment once the judicial recess ends. Until it does, Özel's removal is not final.
• 24 July 2026 Later the same day the founding board meets at Ankara's Anadolu Kulübü and elects Özel chairman unanimously, naming an 80-member party assembly, a 15-member disciplinary board, and three group deputy chairs (Ali Mahir Başarır, Murat Emir, Gökhan Günaydın). Parliament's seat chart updates: the CHP falls to 44, independents rise to 102 (AKP 277, DEM 56, MHP 46, CHP 44), leaving the CHP fourth by party until the 91 register as Yeni Parti with the Speaker. From prison, İmamoğlu posts a warm note to the new party ("Everything will be very good"); Özel calls him "the people's candidate" but does not confirm him as Yeni Parti's nominee. TBMM, T24, BirGün, Sözcü, Odatv
• 24 July 2026 Özel and 90 other members of parliament resign from the CHP and sign the founding declaration for Yeni Parti, 91 founders in total. The papers are delivered to the Interior Ministry around midday by the deputies Gül Çiftçi and Murat Emir, timed to the anniversary of the 1923 Lausanne Treaty. Under Article 8 of Law 2820 a party gains legal personality on delivery, so Yeni Parti exists from that moment. The CHP held 135 of parliament's 600 seats the previous day and is left with about 44. Anadolu Agency, TRT Haber, Hürriyet Daily News, Euronews Türkçe, Sözcü
• 24 July 2026 Özel publishes the Interior Ministry's receipt (alındı belgesi) for the filing, numbered 125987 and signed by general secretary Harun Ersin Polat. It records that the founders of a party "under the name Yeni Parti" submitted the founding declaration and its annexes under Law 2820, dated 24.07.2026, and confirms the official spelling of the name against the party's all-capitals branding. Document posted by Özgür Özel
• 24 July 2026 Reported · SözcüKılıçdaroğlu convenes his executive board at CHP headquarters after the resignations, in a meeting put at about 40 minutes with nine members present. No formal party statement on the split follows the same day.
• 23 July 2026 MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli says a share of the 1.815 billion lira paid to the CHP from the treasury in 2026 should follow the departing lawmakers, since the party's buildings and official vehicles stay behind. The CHP spokesman Müslim Sarı rejects it and asks why the same point was not raised when the İYİ Party split from the MHP; Özel's side says the law does not allow such a transfer. TRT Haber, Sözcü, Euronews Türkçe
• 22 July 2026 Kılıçdaroğlu makes his first appearance at a parliamentary meeting since the court reinstated him, receiving Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş in a four-party consultation, alongside the MHP, DEM Party and Yeni Yol, on the government's planned "framework law" for the disarmament process. Sözcü, Hürriyet, T24
• 22 July 2026 Reported · SözcüThe Adana metropolitan mayor Zeydan Karalar is reported by CHP figures and Turkish journalists to be staying with the party rather than joining Özel's new formation. The account is second-hand; Karalar has not addressed it on his own channel.
• 22 July 2026 Reported · SözcüA surge of membership resignations through the state e-Devlet portal follows Özel's announcement, put by Sözcü at roughly 387,000 in the first hour and said to have briefly overwhelmed the system. The figure is the outlet's and is not officially confirmed.
• 21 July 2026 Özel announces he is leaving the CHP to form a new party, in what he calls his farewell address to the group, telling more than 80 lawmakers it will become "by a clear margin" the main opposition in parliament. He does not file a formal resignation on the day; the founding petition is expected on 24 July. The defections begin at once: the İzmir deputy Murat Bakan is the first to announce he is leaving, on his own account. Reuters, TRT Haber, Sözcü
• 21 July 2026 Reported · SözcüÖzel is reported to have applied to a civil court for a caretaker committee (çağrı heyeti) to run the CHP to a fresh congress in place of Kılıçdaroğlu, proposing former leader Murat Karayalçın to head it. No short-term result is expected.
• 21 July 2026 Parliament announces that Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş will receive Kılıçdaroğlu as part of consultations with party leaders on a framework law. TRT Haber
• 20 July 2026 Reported · SözcüTurkish outlets report that Özel's founding petition for a new party, working name "Yeni Parti," could reach the Interior Ministry within days, with dozens of deputies expected to join. The exact date and the number vary between reports and are not confirmed by Özel.
• 20 July 2026 Court rulingWith the annual judicial recess beginning, the Court of Cassation does not take up the appeal before the break; a final decision is left to after 1 September. Sözcü
• Around 20 July 2026 Motions to lift the parliamentary immunity of seven deputies, Özel among them, are referred to parliament's joint constitutional and justice committee. The governing AK Party says lifting them is not on the agenda. Sözcü
• 17 July 2026 The annulment file reaches the Court of Cassation, 56 days after the appeals-court ruling. Turkish outlets
• 1 July 2026 Ahead of the NATO Ankara summit, Özel takes his case abroad in a Financial Times op-ed, urging allies not to "mistake repression for stability." A deputy chair of the governing AK Party, Hüseyin Yayman, rebukes him, saying politics belongs "at the ballot box, not in the columns of foreign newspapers." Financial Times
• 30 June 2026 The Kılıçdaroğlu-led administration removes 26 CHP provincial chairs. TurkishPress
• Early June 2026 After the ruling, about two-thirds of the CHP's 138 deputies vote to make Özel head of the party's parliamentary group, giving the removed chairman a continuing base in parliament. Reuters
• 21 May 2026 Court rulingAn Ankara appeals court annuls the CHP's November 2023 congress on grounds of absolute nullity (mutlak butlan), removes Özel, and reinstates Kılıçdaroğlu pending final appeal. The Borsa İstanbul index falls 6 percent. AP, Reuters, AA
• 24 October 2025 Court rulingA lower court dismisses the consolidated lawsuits seeking to annul the 2023 congress, a decision the appeals court later overturns. TurkishPress
• November 2023 The CHP's 38th Ordinary Congress elects Özgür Özel chairman, ending Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's 13-year leadership. Rival delegates later allege vote-buying and irregularities.

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