The mayor of the western Turkish province of İzmir, long seen as the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) strongest electoral stronghold, resigned from the party on Thursday, saying he could no longer continue his political struggle under a party leadership installed by a court ruling.
Cemil Tugay, who heads Turkey’s third-largest city of 4.5 million people, which has been governed by the party without interruption since 1999, said he would continue serving as mayor as an independent.
The resignation marks a symbolic blow to the CHP, which has been in turmoil since a May 21 court decision removed party leader Özgür Özel and the current party leadership and reinstated former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his team.
Tugay said in a statement on X that the court ruling and the events that followed had caused serious harm to the party established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, and that recent expulsions from the party were “very worrying.”
Since returning to the party leadership, Kılıçdaroğlu’s team has removed several provincial chairs and expelled or referred some party members for disciplinary action, moves that have fueled anger among Özel’s supporters and deepened the rift inside the party.
“I believe it has become inevitable for us to face the naked truths,” Tugay said in a statement on X.
Tugay said efforts to take the CHP to a new party congress would not produce results in time and that many party members would continue to be unfairly and unlawfully targeted.
The leadership dispute has also sharpened divisions over whether the party should hold an extraordinary congress. Özel’s supporters are pressing for such a meeting before July 26, warning that delays could jeopardize the party’s eligibility to run in elections.
Kılıçdaroğlu’s camp favors a regular congress process beginning at the neighborhood, district and provincial levels, a timetable that could take months.
The mayor’s resignation prompted speculation about his next political move, including whether he could join the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), as some former CHP mayors have done over the past months in the wake of an ongoing crackdown on the party that has led to the arrest of more than 20 mayors and dozens of party officials.
Journalist Şaban Sevinç, however, reported that Tugay spoke with Özel before announcing his resignation and that the two did not have a disagreement over the decision.
According to Sevinç, Tugay told Özel that the people in Izmir had been pressing him to take action against the party leadership installed after the court ruling and said his resignation would also “clear the way” for Özel.
Sevinç said Özel respected Tugay’s decision and expressed hope that they would reunite in the CHP in the future.
Tugay is known to be close to jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a key CHP figure and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival.
He was elected mayor in the 2024 local elections with 49 percent of the vote, defeating his AKP rival, who received 37 percent.
The CHP also won nearly all district municipalities in İzmir, losing only two mayoralties across the province, while the AKP and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), won one district each.
Following Tugay’s resignation, Deputy Mayor Zafer Levent Yıldır and city council members Mustafa Özuslu and Atilla Baysak also announced that they had left the CHP. Ruhsar Selis Çelik, head of the CHP’s youth branch in İzmir, also resigned from the party.
The resignations came as the CHP faces one of its most serious crises in years, with critics and rights groups saying the court ruling, İmamoğlu’s imprisonment and a wave of investigations targeting CHP-run municipalities are part of an escalating crackdown on Turkey’s main opposition party.
The crackdown began following the CHP’s coming out as the leading party in the 2024 local elections.
The government denies targeting the opposition and says the judiciary acts independently.
