ISTANBUL: Seven mayors imprisoned by the Turkish authorities switched allegiance to a new opposition party as it opened its founding congress on Saturday, with the 2028 presidential elections in its sights.

Ozgur Ozel launched the Yeni Party (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, transforming his new party into the main opposition.

At the party’s opening congress, Ozel read out a letter from seven mayors, six of them from districts of Istanbul, in which they announced that they too had switched allegiance to 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,” they said in their letter. In the face of political persecution, “we have decided to continue our political struggle” in Ozel’s Yeni party, the mayors added.

At Saturday’s conference members voted for Ozel, the sole candidate, to be Yeni’s leader. Turkiye’s opposition is battling an increasing crackdown, with a barrage of arrests and lawsuits targeting mayors and elected officials widely seen as political.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2026