YENİ Parti, the party founded by Özgür Özel and his colleagues after a court annulled the congress that had made him leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), opened its first ordinary congress in Ankara on Saturday, 14 November. The party sent invitations to 27 political parties, but not to the CHP, Turkish media reported.
The two-day congress is being held at the Ankara Arena under the slogan "Türkiye Yenileniyor" (Türkiye is renewing). Özel opened the proceedings at around 10:00, telling the hall that all delegates had gathered. Murat Karayalçın was elected to chair the congress presidium.
Özel sole candidate for leader
On the first day 1,202 delegates are to vote in the election for party chairman, in which Özel is the only candidate. On Sunday, delegates are due to elect a 150-member Party Assembly (Parti Meclisi) and the Supreme Disciplinary Board.
Before the congress the party’s founders’ board decided to enlarge the Party Assembly from 80 to 150 members for one congress term and to set up an Ethics Board; delegates still have to approve the changes.
Why the CHP was not invited
According to reports, party officials said invitations were sent at leader level to parties that came to their posts through elections, and that it was "entirely natural" not to invite a party whose leadership, in their words, came "through undemocratic means".
On 21 May 2026 the Ankara Regional Court of Appeal’s 36th Civil Chamber ruled the CHP’s 38th ordinary congress of November 2023, at which Özel was elected chairman, "absolutely null" (mutlak butlan). The ruling reinstated former leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and the party bodies that preceded that congress. Özel and his colleagues later resigned from the CHP and founded YENİ Parti. Kılıçdaroğlu currently leads the CHP.
Sources
- YENİ Parti’nin ilk kurultayı başladı: Bahçeli çelenk gönderdi, CHP’ye davet gitmedi (Serbestiyet)
- Yeni Parti’de kurultay günü: Genel başkan seçimi yapılacak (Evrensel)
- YENİ Parti’de ‘kuruluş’ kurultayı günü (Başka Gazete)
- Yeni Parti’de kurultay günü: 27 siyasi partiye davet gitti CHP hariç (Yeni Şafak)
- YENİ Parti CHP’ye kapıları kapattı: Kurultay daveti gönderilmedi! (12punto)
- Yeni Parti kurultayında dikkat çeken detay! 27 parti çağrıldı, davet edilmeyen tek parti var (Haberler.com)
- CHP’ye mutlak butlan darbesi: Mahkeme Kılıçdaroğlu dönsün dedi (Yetkin Report)
Photo: SAİT71 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
