Nicosia, Cyprus. The Cyprus branch of Turkey’s opposition CHP has joined the New Party formed by former CHP leader Ozgur Ozel, following the departure of 91 members of parliament and numerous mayors from the CHP.
Former Cyprus branch chairman Mustafa Yurukcu announced on Monday that he was leaving the CHP to join the New Party, while the branch’s social media accounts were rebranded and former youth wing chairman Emre Dizel also joined the new party.
Branch leadership departure
Yurukcu said he was resigning from the CHP, which he described as “our ancestral home and the great family to which we belong”, with the aim of pursuing “a better country”.
“There is much to say, but it is time to speak of something better, with what is in our hearts and on our lips,” he said. “Whatever happens, we say hello to a new page, a new day, hope, and the continued fight.”
Parliamentary position
The New Party was officially formed last Friday and has become Turkey’s official opposition, with 91 MPs. It has more lawmakers than every party in the Turkish parliament except the ruling AK Party.
The CHP now has 44 MPs and is the fifth-largest party in parliament. It has lost its status as the official opposition and second-largest parliamentary party for the first time since 2002.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who was installed as CHP leader in Ozel’s place by a court decision in May, became the first person in the history of the Turkish republic to lead a party that lost its official opposition status without an election being held.
Cyprus vote results
The CHP won the most votes among Turkish citizens voting in Cyprus in the May 2023 Turkish parliamentary election, receiving 35.2 per cent. The AK Party received 30.1 per cent, while Devlet Bahceli’s MHP, which caucuses with the AK Party in parliament, won 7.3 per cent.
The result was the CHP’s strongest in Cyprus and the AK Party’s weakest on the island in more than a decade.
Initial polling conducted across Turkey over the weekend placed the New Party second nationally, ahead of the CHP in third place, with both behind the AK Party.