Zaroğlu plans to form a new party after resigning from the YDP
AN MP is to establish a new political party after quitting the Rebirth Party (YDP).
Bertan Zaroğlu resigned from the YDP, the smallest partner of the three-party coalition government, on Tuesday.
Mr Zaroğlu presented his resignation by going to the YDP building with a notary. Accompanied by supporters, Mr Zaroğlu read out a press statement in which he said he was “pressured and forced into leaving the party”. He added that 2,011 YDP members had “resigned” with him.
Stating that they will establish a new party called the “Millet Partisi” (Nation Party), Mr Zaroğlu said that the party will be “far from the left or right in politics” and will have a “centrist” focus.
Mr Zaroğlu explained that since the resignations “will try to be manipulated” he and his supporters decided to submit and sign resignation documents in the presence of a notary.
Expressing that they founded the YDP as a handful of “lionhearts” who wanted to find “solutions to the country’s problems”, Mr Zaroğlu said: “Particularly when we entered the government, I saw that during this period we will not be able to achieve what we actually intended.”
Mr Zaroğlu said his “parting of the ways” with YDP chairman, Deputy Prime Minister and Economy and Energy Minister Erhan Arıklı, started with the party’s “participation in the government” after Mr Zaroğlu had expressed his opinion not to enter into coalition with the National Unity Party and Democrat Party.
“Under the circumstances then, this was not the right thing to do,” he said. “I acted with my party in mind, Arıklı acted with his seat in mind.”
Pointing to negotiations carried out during the formation of the government, he continued: “If I had
thought about a ministry or parting ways that day, I wouldn’t have put Arıklı in a position like Deputy Prime Minister to manage such large institutions.”
Mr Zaroğlu noted that while he was waiting for government appointments “based on merit”, he saw appointments made by “excluding young people who contributed to the country and who would grow the YDP”.
“When I saw that we could not change the things we wanted to, I became a leadership candidate at the YDP general assembly.”
Mr Zaroğlu also claimed that Dr Arıklı and his family had “insulted” him during the leadership contest earlier this year, and had described him as “naive and young”.
After he narrowly lost the YDP leadership race to Dr Arıklı, Mr Zaroğlu said that someone had attempted to access his office at the YDP headquarters with the help of locksmith, and that those who stood with him were accused of “treason”.
“I am not voluntarily leaving the party, I was pressured and forced to do so,” he said. He dismissed accusations that he is “dividing” the YDP, saying the “game” was already over.
Dr Arıklı said that Mr Zaroğlu had put on a “show” and that the loss of YDP members would “not affect” his party.
“We thank Mr Zaroğlu and his friends for their service to the YDP and wish them success in their political future,” he said in a statement issued via social media.
“I do not feel the need to respond to the words, allegations and slander he said before and during his resignation.
“The MP himself knows that the collective resignation he presented as ‘those who resigned’ is not a form of resignation accepted by the High Election Council (YSK).
“The YSK requested a separate resignation letter signed in person. Despite this, a collective resignation petition was submitted to put on a show.
“Whether the signatures really belong to these [2,011] individuals will be investigated and the resignation of those who say ‘yes, that’s my signature’ will be processed immediately.”