Turkey’s center-right nationalist İYİ Party has selected a new chairperson to lead the party after longtime leader Meral Akşener, who had led the party since its founding in 2017, stepped back from party leadership. New chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu takes over as the party struggles to maintain relevance following disappointing results for the party in local elections on March 31.
The party convened for a congress in Ankara on Saturday (April 27) to select a new leader. Incumbent chairwoman Meral Akşener had announced that she would not seek reelection as party leader following the İYİ Party’s dismal showing in elections last month.
Once considered a critical piece of Turkey’s opposition coalition, the İYİ Party’s support in the most recent polls dipped into the low single digits amid historic gains by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which won a plurality of votes across the country for the first time since 1977.
In a third round of voting, Müsavat Dervişoğlu won with 611 votes, besting candidate Koray Aydın, who finished with 548. Candidates Tolga Akalın and Günay Kodaz had also competed in the earlier rounds of voting.
Following his victory, Dervişoğlu made a speech, saying: “Everyone rest assured, nothing will ever be the same again.”
Dervişoğlu has been a member of the İYİ Party since its founding in 2017. Like Akşener and many other İYİ Party politicians, Dervişoğlu was a former member of the far-right nationalist National Action Party (MHP) from the 1980s up until 2017.
A schism in the MHP in 2016-2017 centered around the party’s alliance with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and support of Erdoğan’s presidential system referendum caused a split in the party, resulting in the departure of Akşener, Dervişoğlu, and others and leading to the founding of the İYİ Party.
Throughout his time in the MHP, Dervişoğlu served in various party positions representing the Aegean city of İzmir.Following Dervişoğlu’s victory on Saturday, numerous Turkish politicians offered their congratulations, including CHP head Özgür Özel, President Erdoğan, and outgoing chairwoman Meral Akşener.
In her farewell speech, Akşener claimed to have “fought against the opportunists of every era” throughout her 30 year career in politics.
İYİ Party’s rise and fall
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Following its founding in 2017, the İYİ Party joined in coalition with the main opposition CHP in 2019’s local elections, which saw the opposition win major cities across Turkey such as İstanbul and Ankara, delivering President Erdoğan’s AKP its biggest electoral defeat to date.
Following the successes, the İYİ Party was billed as a ‘kingmaker’ and ‘key party’ in Turkish politics.
In last year’s general elections, the İYİ Party remained a member of the opposition coalition in its attempt to defeat President Erdoğan and win control of the Turkish parliament.
The coalition, however, was fragile and suffered from deep differences over presidential candidate selection, which climaxed when then-chairwoman Akşener chose to leave the coalition with only two months left until the election. Although Akşener returned to the coalition only days later, the episode revealed major cracks in the opposition and was seen as a blow to Akşener and the İYİ Party, which emerged weakened as then-CHP chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu secured the presidential nomination amidst resistance from the İYİ Party chairwoman.
In the local elections last month, the İYİ Party elected not to join in coalition with the CHP, instead running its own candidates for mayoral and municipal positions across Turkey.
The result, however, was disappointing and resulted in numerous resignations from the party. In her speech Saturday, Akşener touched on the losses, saying: “I have paid the price for our lack of success. Now it is your job to succeed.”
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
