Turkey’s ousted opposition leader plans new party in fresh challenge to Erdogan

The deposed leader of Turkey’s main opposition announced plans on Tuesday to create a new political party to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Associated Press writes.

Ozgur Ozel’s announcement came months after he was removed as leader of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, by a court order — a ruling critics say was a politically motivated effort to weaken the opposition. His ouster, and the reinstatement of the party’s former and unpopular leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, sparked outrage among many CHP supporters.

“We are establishing our new party by taking the first step together with the deputies chosen by our nation,” Ozel said in a speech to CHP lawmakers and other officials in parliament. “These are the determined steps of a march toward governing Turkey.”

The new political movement, which is expected to be called Yeni Parti, or New Party, will be formally launched later this week, according to reports.

Many of the CHP’s 135 legislators in the 600‑seat parliament were expected to defect and join the new party, which Ozel said would become the parliament’s main opposition “by a wide margin.”