New Delhi, July 22 -- ISTANBUL - When police arrived at the CHP headquarters in Ankara on the morning of May 24, Ozgur Ozel was still inside. Officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to remove him. A Turkish court had ruled that his election as party leader was void, reinstating his predecessor, and the eviction made the ruling literal. Eight weeks later, Ozel returned to parliament and announced he was starting over.

In a speech to the Grand National Assembly on Monday, Ozel said he planned to form a new political party, the first significant split in the main Turkish opposition in years. He predicted the new party would become the leading opposition force "by a wide margin" and said 135 of the CHP's current parliamentarians would leav...