Seven jailed Turkish mayors join new opposition party

Seven Turkish mayors imprisoned by the authorities switched allegiance to Ozgur Ozel's Yeni Party as it opened its founding congress on Saturday.

Ozel launched the Yeni Party, or New Party, in July, two months after a court ruling removed him as head of what was then the main opposition CHP. Dozens of CHP lawmakers followed him, turning the new party into the main opposition.

At the congress, Ozel read a letter from the seven mayors, six of them from districts of Istanbul, announcing that they had joined his party.

“We are imprisoned... because we did not surrender the authority given to us by the nation at the ballot box to political tutelage,” the mayors said in the letter. They said they had decided to continue their political struggle in Ozel's party in the face of what they called political persecution.

Turkey's opposition has faced arrests and lawsuits targeting mayors and elected officials after the CHP, then led by Ozel, won the March 2024 local elections against the ruling AKP.

Among those arrested are 29 mayors, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is considered one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's leading electoral opponents.

In his congress speech, Ozel accused the authorities of using state power against the opposition and set out priorities including protection of public institutions, judicial independence, press freedom and housing policy. Erdogan, 72, has said he intends to run again in the 2028 presidential election.