New Party (YP) Chair Özgür Özel is in hot water but appears dismissive of the mounting accusations against him.
Özel, who was ousted from the chairpersonship of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) last May, claimed that payments made informally to the CHP during his tenure were "not bribery."
"They said they paid money to cover the party's expenses. We paid each other and pooled our funds. How is that bribery?" Özel told journalists on Thursday in response to statements by corruption suspects who admitted handing over large sums of cash to Özel and his associates in the CHP.
The allegations are detailed in a parliamentary referral that prosecutors submitted to Parliament, seeking the removal of Özel's parliamentary immunity. The referral accuses Özel of "serial bribe-taking," based on an investigation that includes witness statements, phone records, and evidence of suspicious financial transactions ranging from TL 50 million ($1.05 million) to 1 million euros ($1.15 million).
Prosecutors allege that the transactions took place before the 2024 municipal elections and during the process leading to the CHP's 2023 party congress that brought Özel to power. It was the same congress that ultimately cost Özel his position after a court ruled that vote-buying allegations involving Özel's camp were sufficient to invalidate the election and reinstated his rival and the party's former chair, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, to the post in May.
