Özgür Özel launched his New Party (YP) with a heavy dose of symbolism on Friday, but the political future of the former chairperson of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will possibly be tested two years from now in general elections. Although he has already secured the title of chairperson of the Turkish Parliament’s second-largest party by luring 91 lawmakers to his side, Özel will have to take on the formidable Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which has never lost an election in more than two decades, except for the 2024 municipal vote.
His adventure in Turkish politics may be worthy of a series by a certain streaming service whose logo was partially “borrowed” for the logo of the new party, but people will understandably look forward to seeing how it ends, or fares, in the next election, scheduled for 2028. Özel was a virtual nobody in Turkish politics until 2011, when he was elected as a CHP lawmaker. For a long time, he remained a low-profile politician. The 51-year-old lawmaker steadily climbed the career ladder within the party through his work on parliamentary committees as an outspoken deputy. In 2018, he was elected head of the party’s parliamentary group, a post from which he was demoted again when Kılıçdaroğlu made his comeback last May.
