Politics · Turkey · 8 hrs ago
Kadıköy Mayor Mesut Kösedağı joins YENİ Party
Kadıköy Mayor Mesut Kösedağı is leaving the CHP for YENİ Party, he said in a video statement.
Kadıköy is the district he leads, and it is in Istanbul.
The move follows a referral to the CHP’s disciplinary board last month, with a request for his permanent expulsion.
Kösedağı said he had been a CHP member for 23 years.
He said 30 of the district’s 36 council members will join him in the move.
He said they would continue working for Kadıköy under the YENİ Party.
Their next stated step is to work together for the district; no further action was described.
Kadıköy Mayor Mesut Kösedağı said he is joining YENİ Party, led by Özgür Özel.
He said 30 of the district’s 36 municipal council members would move with him.
Kösedağı made the announcement in a video posted on social media.
He said he had been referred to a disciplinary board by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) with a request for his definitive expulsion.
He said he had been a CHP member for 23 years.
- Who
- Kadıköy Mayor Mesut Kösedağı and, he said, 30 municipal council members.
- What
- Kösedağı announced that he would join YENİ Party. He said the council members would move with him.
- When
- The announcement was published on October 22, 2026.
- Where
- Kadıköy, Istanbul. Kösedağı announced the move in a video on social media.
- Why
- Kösedağı said he had been referred to a CHP disciplinary board with a request for his definitive expulsion, and that feedback from residents informed his decision.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Kösedağı said the CHP referred him to its disciplinary board with a request for his definitive expulsion.
Kösedağı announced that he was joining YENİ Party and said 30 council members would move with him.
- Mayor
- Mesut Kösedağı
- New party
- YENİ Party
- Party leader
- Özgür Özel
- Council members moving with him
- 30 of 36
- Previous party membership
- CHP for 23 years
What people are saying
I would like to inform you that I am joining the ranks of YENİ Party, led by our chairman, Mr Özgür Özel, for my political journey from now on.
We made this decision together with 30 of our 36 council members.