Main opposition leader Özgür Özel has said 2026 would usher in "great change" for the country, renewing the call from his Republican People’s Party (CHP) for early elections.
"The calendar pages of 2026 will turn for great change in Türkiye. We will put this home, our homeland, which has fallen apart, back together. The inhabitants of this home, who have been looked down upon for years, will sit together at the same dinner table during our time," Özel said in a written New Year’s message released on Dec. 31.
The CHP has intensified calls for early elections since the March detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in a corruption investigation, though Türkiye is not scheduled to hold national polls until 2028. The ousted mayor was arrested the same day he was announced as the CHP’s presidential candidate.
"Our nation should rest assured. Today, the CHP is the ruling party in thought and deed. In practice, it is as close as a ballot box,” Özel said.
The opposition leader described 2025 as a “difficult” year for Türkiye, citing economic hardship and social strain.
"Unfortunately, 2025 has not been good for Türkiye,” he said. “In the economy, the deterioration that has continued since 2018 has deepened even further. Deep poverty and uncontrollable cost of living have engulfed every corner of our country.”
Özel said the CHP was ready to govern and offered a sharp contrast with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
"We will govern without division, without marginalization, rejecting revanchism, and as the guarantor of all the rights and freedoms of the nation,” Özel said.
"We will be the hands that repair the fallen roof, illuminate the sunless rooms and rekindle the extinguished hearth. We will bring peace, brotherhood, tranquility and prosperity to this country."
