{"text":[[{"start":8.8,"text":"The deposed leader of Turkey’s main opposition party has said he is creating a new political party to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a bold move that could reshape Turkish politics."}],[{"start":22.55,"text":"Özgür Özel’s gambit could unite Turkey’s fractured opposition, mobilise disgruntled voters and threaten Erdoğan at the next presidential election scheduled for 2028. But he also faces the risk of prosecution as part of a continuing legal crackdown by Turkish authorities against government critics and dissent."}],[{"start":42.55,"text":"Recent polls suggest that Özel’s still unnamed “new party” would handily beat Erdoğan’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) if a vote were held today."}],[{"start":52.849999999999994,"text":"“We are charting a new path,” Özel said to lawmakers of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, in Ankara on Tuesday. “We will leave no one behind . . . on this march to power,” he added to rapturous applause. “We carry within us the unwavering hope of a new beginning.”"}],[{"start":72.19999999999999,"text":"Özel’s announcement came after he was removed as CHP leader in May by a court order — a ruling critics say was a politically motivated effort to weaken the opposition. His ousting, and the reinstatement of the party’s former and unpopular leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, sparked outrage among many CHP supporters."}],[{"start":92.04999999999998,"text":"Özel said the breakaway party could be founded as soon as Wednesday, and that “once the legal formalities are completed”, it will become “parliament’s largest opposition group by a clear margin.” "}],[{"start":103.69999999999999,"text":"The CHP has 135 seats in Turkey’s 600-seat parliament, and many of its MPs are expected to join the breakaway party."}],[{"start":111.69999999999999,"text":"Özel’s popularity and high profile — he helped lead the CHP to a resounding victory against the AKP in the 2024 municipal elections — are likely to place him at the centre of the opposition’s efforts to unseat Erdoğan, who has governed Turkey for more than 23 years."}],[{"start":129.64999999999998,"text":"The CHP, established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish republic, has a history of parties breaking away and winning elections. One notable example is the Democratic Party, which split from the CHP in 1946, and came to power in 1950 with one of its founders, Adnan Menderes, becoming prime minister."}],[{"start":151.09999999999997,"text":"“Turkey is experiencing a breaking point in its political history. The ruling AKP party sought to confine the opposition . . . but Özel refused to remain within those limits,” said Seren Selvin Korkmaz, co-director of the IstanPol Institute, a think-tank."}],[{"start":167.09999999999997,"text":"“If it meets society’s expectations, Özel’s new party holds significant potential. A major impasse for the opposition could become a great opportunity,” she added."}],[{"start":177.49999999999997,"text":"Thanks to his parliamentary immunity, Özel has so far escaped the prison fate of dozens of other CHP officials — most famously Istanbul mayor and putative CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was arrested last year on corruption charges."}],[{"start":193.84999999999997,"text":"But analysts warn that corruption cases are being assembled against Özel, which could lead to him losing his parliamentary immunity. "}],[{"start":202.09999999999997,"text":"“In the process from here on, Özel and his team have truly donned a shirt of fire,” said Berk Esen, assistant professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabancı University."}],[{"start":212.54999999999995,"text":"AKP deputy chair Leyla Şahin Usta said this week that lifting the immunity “of some MPs” was not on “our agenda in parliament right now”. First, she said, “the prosecutor’s office presents the evidence and proof, and prepares the files and indictments”."}],[{"start":229.59999999999997,"text":"İmamoğlu’s arrest last year, and the court decision that ended Özel’s chairmanship of the CHP due to alleged vote-buying at the 2023 party congress at which he was elected, rattled financial markets and have fuelled concerns about democracy and the rule of law in Turkey."}],[{"start":245.79999999999995,"text":"The government insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure. Erdoğan has also rejected claims of government intervention in Özel’s case, describing it as an internal CHP dispute."}],[{"start":265.6499999999999,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1784681455_6027.mp3"}