Three opposition parties merge under umbrella party in Turkish parliament

Duvar English

The Future Party, Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), and Felicity Party (SP) have finalized their efforts to establish a joint parliamentary group and agreed to merge under a single umbrella party. 

The formal application for the party’s establishment is expected to be submitted to the Interior Ministry on Jan. 10.

The leaders of the three parties—Ali Babacan, Mahmut Arıkan, and Ahmet Davutoğlu—are set to meet tomorrow to finalize the name, logo, and founding members of the new umbrella party, which aims to form a strong parliamentary group. 

The party’s program and charter have been already drafted. While several options are on the table for the party’s name, New Path (Yeni Yol in Turkish) and Unity for Turkey (Türkiye İçin Birlik) have been among the frontrunners.

The three parties will retain their institutional identities, and their current leaders will remain at the helm of their respective parties. The new party's chairperson will not be one of the three existing leaders; instead, the position will be assigned to an external figure. 

Lawmakers from these parties will serve within the newly established parliamentary group.

As consensus was reached on the umbrella party, a series of MP resignations occurred within the constituent parties. 

Nedim Yamalı resigned from the Future Party, while Mehmet Emin Ekmen and Ertuğrul Kaya from DEVA Party joined the Felicity Party to ensure the survival of the current Future-Felicity parliamentary group.

Meanwhile, Mustafa Yeneroğlu, Burak Dalgın, and Aliye Kavaf also resigned from the DEVA Party. Notably, Dalgın and Kavaf specifically cited the decision to form an umbrella party as a key reason for their resignations when making their announcements.

To form a parliamentary group, at least 20 lawmakers are needed. This grants political parties further privileges in the Parliament, such as representation in committees and the ability to hold weekly group meetings in a private hall.

The new parliamentary group is expected to have 30 lawmakers.

What happened?

In the last general elections, DEVA and Future Party, founded by former Justice and Development Party (AKP) members, and Islamist opposition Felicity Party ran under the main-opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). In total, 35 lawmakers from these parties were elected.

In July, Felicity and Future formed an alliance to have a parliamentary group upon failure to have a grand coalition between the three.

Opposition parties in Turkish Parliament in turmoil over recent lawmaker resignationsPolitics

Opposition Future and Felicity parties form joint parliamentary groupPolitics

People's Alliance has the majority in parliamentPolitics