Friction between the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the New Party (YP) seems unlikely to end any time soon. The YP, born out of a court battle between former CHP Chair Özgür Özel and those siding with new Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, is accused of taking cash from the party’s accounts before the formation of the New Party in July. YP lawmakers at the heart of the row have refused to return the money despite a formal notice from the CHP, and the latter is now considering taking the matter to court.
The CHP administration, led by Kılıçdaroğlu, who was reinstated to the post by a court ruling last May, about three years after he lost an intra-party vote to Özel, now the leader of the YP, sent a notice to YP lawmakers asking them to return the cash they withdrew from the coffers of CHP’s parliamentary group one day before the establishment of the YP. The amount in question exceeds TL 5 million ($100,000), and CHP officials claim that it was transferred as a “donation” to the YP. It is also reported that the signatures of 138 lawmakers were used without their knowledge for the transfer. The cash stems from a support fund for the CHP created through monthly contributions by lawmakers who had previously agreed to have their salaries reduced for this purpose. The YP has claimed that lawmakers had the right to reclaim the money.
Neither Özel nor the majority of the YP’s 91 lawmakers plan to return the cash despite the notices, and some have even returned the notices to the CHP. The CHP, in response, gave them a seven-day deadline, warning that it would launch legal proceedings to recover the money if they failed to pay.
The Özel and Kılıçdaroğlu camps in Türkiye’s oldest party, the CHP, previously faced off in two cases involving a controversial congress and the intra-party election. Özel’s associates in the CHP were accused of buying votes in his favor during the November 2023 intra-party election, which Kılıçdaroğlu lost. Several delegates have come forward claiming that payments were made to people to vote for Özel in exchange for gifts ranging from cellphones to cash. Indeed, this was the case that triggered the split between Özel supporters and those close to Kılıçdaroğlu following his 2023 defeat. In May, a court ordered Kılıçdaroğlu’s reinstatement on the grounds that the election had been bought and therefore should be annulled. Özel denied the allegations and appealed the decision. Yet, before another court battle could begin, he decided to establish the YP. An overwhelming majority of CHP lawmakers joined him in the YP, making it the main opposition party. A trial in the vote-buying case, which also involves former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, arrested in 2025 in connection with a separate corruption case, is meanwhile still underway.
After Özel was forced to leave CHP headquarters, the Kılıçdaroğlu administration moved to replace provincial chairs appointed by Özel but faced resistance. Brawls erupted between Özel supporters and CHP officials in several provinces. CHP officials have claimed that pro-Özel chairs and their associates ransacked party offices before their forced expulsion. Under the coordination of CHP Deputy Chair Tahsin Tarhan, criminal complaints were filed with the chief public prosecutors’ offices in all 81 provinces against individuals suspected of involvement in theft in connection with the alleged “looting” incidents. The fate of fixtures and equipment worth millions of liras belonging to CHP provincial and district offices remains unclear amid allegations that pro-Özel groups took them with them while vacating CHP offices.