Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Turkey. The week’s biggest bombshell came from Ozgur Ozel, the ousted opposition CHP leader, who said he will probably form a new party.

Read on for more details on that story and more.

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Ozgur Ozel, leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party, greets representatives of civil society organizations during a meeting in Diyarbakir, Turkey, on June 26, 2026. — Bilal Seckin / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Ozgur Ozel, who was ousted from the leadership of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) through the government’s usual legal shenanigans, announced that he will probably form a new party, as Ezgi Akin reported.

A survey by the Ankara-based MetroPoll polling company suggested that Ozel’s new party — which he says he will simply call the “New Party” — would beat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) if parliamentary elections were held now, with the former garnering 33.8% of the vote versus 27.0% for the latter. The same survey indicated that Ankara’s CHP mayor, Mansur Yavas, would win 51.8% of the vote against Erdogan’s 34.6%.

Those results stand in stark contrast to the prevailing consensus that Erdogan will secure a third — or fourth, depending on how one counts — term in the twin presidential and parliamentary elections due no later than May 2028.

Much could happen between now and then, and there is little doubt that Erdogan will seek to quash the new party before it gains traction. The party will need to establish local branches in all 81 of Turkey’s provinces to register as a legitimate political party ahead of the elections. Besides, who would have the courage to fund it?

Ozel was initially dismissed as........

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