Ekrem Imamoglu joins New Party after court removes CHP leadership
Jailed Istanbul mayor resigns from Republican People’s Party amid legal crackdown on Turkish opposition
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Ekrem Imamoglu (In Pic) joined a new party seeking to challenge Erdogan’s rule amid opposition divisions.
Photograph: Times of India (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Ekrem Imamoglu, jailed mayor of Istanbul, resigned from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) after 17 years and joined the New Party, which was formed last month by breakaway lawmakers.
- A court order removed the CHP’s leadership, reinstating former leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a move critics call part of a broader crackdown on opposition figures.
- The New Party is now the second-largest in Turkey’s parliament and is expected to attract most CHP voters, potentially reshaping opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
- Turkey’s next elections are scheduled for 2028 but could be held earlier, with the opposition’s fragmentation seen as a potential advantage for Erdogan’s ruling party.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 12 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 4 of the 16 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
68/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
15/100
16 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
Only 1 of the 12 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the jailed mayor of Istanbul, announced on 13 August 2026 that he was leaving the Republican People’s Party (CHP) after 17 years of membership. In a statement posted on X, Imamoglu said his decision reflected his values and responsibility toward the Turkish people. He confirmed he was joining the New Party, a political group formed the previous month by 90 breakaway lawmakers led by opposition figure Ozgur Ozel.
The move followed a court order that removed the CHP’s leadership and reinstated its former leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The ruling came amid what opposition groups and rights organisations describe as an unprecedented legal crackdown on dissent. Imamoglu, who has been in pretrial detention for over a year on corruption charges he denies, was the CHP’s presidential candidate in an internal vote held days after his arrest in March 2025. His university diploma, a requirement for presidential candidacy, was annulled by Istanbul University the day before his detention.
The New Party is now the second-largest party in Turkey’s parliament. Analysts expect it to attract most of the CHP’s voter base, presenting a renewed challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in power for 23 years. The next elections are officially scheduled for 2028, but there is speculation they could be called earlier. The opposition’s fragmentation is widely seen as a potential advantage for Erdogan’s ruling party.
What the coverage left out
None of the right-rated digests mentioned the resignation of Imamoglu’s wife, Dilek Imamoglu, from the CHP, which was reported by the unrated outlet gazetepencere.com. The centre-rated reports also omitted this detail. No outlet, including the full reports from the Times of India and The Economic Times, provided a specific figure for the number of CHP officials or members jailed since 2024 beyond the general claim of "hundreds".
No left-rated outlet ran this story at all.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 6 times, most recently on 13 Aug 2026, 08:45, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
1 rated outlet
We have not written our reading of the left coverage of this story. The left-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.
Centre
3 rated outlets
- The three centre-rated reports, from The Economic Times, Reuters and WTVB, led on Imamoglu’s resignation from the CHP and his decision to join the New Party. All three carried his statement on X, in which he framed the move as the start of a new path for Turkey. The Economic Times and Reuters included the context of the court order removing the CHP’s leadership and the broader legal crackdown on opposition figures. Reuters and WTVB noted the New Party’s status as the second-largest in parliament and its potential to attract CHP voters.
- The Economic Times and Reuters also reported the government’s denial that the judiciary is politically influenced. Both outlets quoted Imamoglu’s description of the crackdown as undemocratic, though neither attributed the claim to a named rights group or opposition source beyond his own statement.
Right
8 rated outlets
- The seven right-rated digests, from Asharq AL-awsat, Protothema, Die Presse, The Star Kuala Lumpur, Cyprus Mail, The Straits Times and the Times of India, all led on Imamoglu’s decision to join the New Party. The Times of India’s full report, the only right-rated outlet to publish one, framed the move as part of an "unprecedented legal crackdown on the opposition" and included Imamoglu’s statement in full. It also noted the annulment of his university diploma and the broader splintering of the opposition as a potential boost to Erdogan’s prospects.
- Protothema’s digest quoted Imamoglu’s resignation statement directly, while Die Presse described him as Erdogan’s "biggest rival". The Star Kuala Lumpur, Cyprus Mail and The Straits Times all carried the court order removing the CHP’s leadership, though none of the digests mentioned the government’s denial of political interference in the judiciary. Asharq AL-awsat’s digest did not go beyond the basic facts of Imamoglu’s move and the court order.
Read it at the source
16 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
1Centre
3- Jailed Istanbul mayor Imamoglu joins new opposition party amid political turmoil (opens Reuters in a new tab)
- Jailed Istanbul mayor Imamoglu joins new opposition party amid political turmoil (opens The Economic Times in a new tab)
The Economic Times — is The Economic Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Jailed Istanbul mayor Imamoglu joins new opposition party amid political turmoil (opens WTVB in a new tab)
Right
8- Turkey: Imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Changes to New Opposition Party (opens Handelsblatt in a new tab)
Handelsblatt — is Handelsblatt biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Jailed Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu Joins New Opposition Party Amid Political Turmoil (opens Asharq AL-awsat in a new tab)
Asharq AL-awsat — is Asharq AL-awsat biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Turkey: Jailed Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu Leaves CHP, Joins New Party (opens Protothema in a new tab)
Protothema — is Protothema biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Incarcerated Istanbul Mayor Joins the "New... (opens Die Presse in a new tab)
Die Presse — is Die Presse biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Jailed Istanbul mayor Imamoglu joins new opposition party amid political turmoil (opens The Star Kuala Lumpur in a new tab)
The Star Kuala Lumpur — is The Star Kuala Lumpur biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Jailed Istanbul mayor Imamoglu joins new opposition party amid political turmoil (opens Times of India in a new tab)
Times of India — is Times of India biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Jailed Istanbul mayor Imamoglu joins Turkey’s New Party (opens Cyprus Mail in a new tab)
Cyprus Mail — is Cyprus Mail biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Jailed Istanbul mayor Imamoglu joins new opposition party amid political turmoil (opens The Straits Times in a new tab)
The Straits Times — is The Straits Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
Not rated
4- CHP Spokesperson Sarı Commented on İMamoğlu's Resignation: It Was a Belated Decision. (opens medyafaresi.com in a new tab)
medyafaresi.com — is medyafaresi.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Turkey: Imamoglu Changes to New Opposition Party (opens ORF.at News in a new tab)
ORF.at News — is ORF.at News biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Dilek Kaya İMamoğlu Also Resigned From CHP: She Invited People to a 'NEW' Journey. (opens gazetepencere.com in a new tab)
gazetepencere.com — is gazetepencere.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Imamoğlu Resigned From CHP; He Invited Citizens to Become Members of the NEW Party. (opens Tr724 in a new tab)
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Ekrem Imamoglu joins New Party after court removes CHP leadership?
- Of the 12 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 8% are rated left, 25% are rated centre, 67% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 16. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Ekrem Imamoglu joins New Party after court removes CHP leadership left or right?
- Neither side dominates it. Of the 12 rated outlets on this story, 8% are rated left, 25% are rated centre, 67% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
- Is the coverage of Ekrem Imamoglu joins New Party after court removes CHP leadership biased?
- Ekrem Imamoglu joins New Party after court removes CHP leadership is one event reported by 16 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Ekrem Imamoglu joins New Party after court removes CHP leadership?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Ekrem Imamoglu joins New Party after court removes CHP leadership?
- 16 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Why did Ekrem Imamoglu leave the CHP?
- Imamoglu resigned from the Republican People’s Party after 17 years, citing his values and responsibility toward Turkey’s future. His decision followed a court order that removed the CHP’s leadership and reinstated its former leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, amid a broader legal crackdown on opposition figures.
- What is the New Party in Turkey?
- The New Party was formed in July 2026 by 90 breakaway lawmakers led by opposition figure Ozgur Ozel. It is now the second-largest party in Turkey’s parliament and is expected to attract most of the CHP’s voter base, presenting a renewed challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
- When are Turkey’s next elections?
- Turkey’s next elections are officially scheduled for 2028, but there is speculation they could be held earlier. The opposition’s fragmentation is seen as a potential advantage for Erdogan’s ruling party, which has been in power for 23 years.
- Which outlets reported Imamoglu’s move?
- The story was covered by three centre-rated outlets, The Economic Times, Reuters and WTVB, and seven right-rated outlets, including the Times of India, Asharq AL-awsat and The Straits Times. No left-rated outlet ran the story.
How did this read?
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