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Özgür Çelik secured reelection as provincial chair for Türkiye’s main opposition New Party on Oct. 18, standing unopposed at the party’s first Istanbul congress.
Party members voted at designated polling stations across the party’s 39 district organizations in Istanbul.
“Like a phoenix, we have managed to rise from our ashes every time despite all the attacks. The New Party is the party of those who do not leave the people without an alternative in the face of all attacks,” Çelik said at the congress on Oct. 17.
“With the unwavering determination of our presidential candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has turned Silivri prison into a fortress of resistance, the efforts of our cadres and the strength of our people, a brand-new life will emerge in Türkiye under our rule,” he said.
“Politics will be renewed, the law will be renewed, society will be renewed, life will be renewed. Let no one doubt it: Türkiye has embarked on a new path. At the end of this path lie peace, prosperity, freedom, justice and happiness.”
Çelik was expelled from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) by the leadership restored following a court ruling that annulled the party’s 2023 leadership election over alleged irregularities. He subsequently joined the New Party and took part in establishing its organization in Istanbul.
The New Party emerged from a split within the CHP after Özel and 90 lawmakers resigned from the then-main opposition movement on July 24 to establish a new political movement. The breakaway made the New Party the largest opposition group in parliament.
