Can the New Party receive treasury aid, how has the system changed over the years?

On May 21, Özgür Özel, who was removed from his post as CHP Chairman by the absolute nullity decision of the Court of Appeal, resigned from the party and founded the New Party with 91 deputies, including himself. One of the most curious issues about the party is whether it will receive treasury aid. Source, Evrim Aydın/Anadolu - It is now possible to follow the agenda on BBC Turkish on WhatsApp.

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A new era began in Turkish politics with the official establishment petition submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Yeni Party became Türkiye's new main opposition party. As of today, the distribution of seats in the Turkish Grand National Assembly is as follows: MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli, in his statement on July 23, said that the new party to be established by Özgür Özel should receive treasury aid.

Bahçeli said, "From the 1 billion 815 million lira paid from the treasury to the CHP in 2026, it is ethical to transfer a share from the treasury aid in proportion to the number of deputies who leave the CHP and switch to the new party. Former CHP Parliamentary Group Deputy Chairman Murat Emir, one of the MPs who switched to the New Party, called on Bahçeli to "take concrete steps on this issue". Current legal regulations do not allow a new party that has not previously participated in elections to benefit from treasury aid.

Speaking to BBC Turkish, Election Law Journal Chief Editor Assoc. Dr. Fatih Güler said that the New Party cannot receive treasury aid. Fatih Güler said, "In the past, it was possible for political parties with groups in the Parliament to automatically receive state aid.

"However, in its current state, just having a political party group or a certain number of deputies is not enough to receive state aid, he said. Güler emphasized that in order for the New Party to receive treasury aid, changes must first be made in the relevant law and reminded that, as long as there is the will of the Parliament, similar changes could be made frequently and easily in the past. Additional article 1 of the Political Parties Law No. 2820 regulates the determination of state aid to political parties according to the votes they received in the last parliamentary general election.

According to the law, in order to benefit from state aid, the party must have participated in the last general election and received at least 3 percent of the valid votes. In other words, the number of deputies in the Turkish Grand National Assembly is not taken into account in order for parties to receive aid from the Treasury. Unless the current legal regulation changes, the New Party must receive at least 3 percent of the votes in the first general election in order to receive treasury aid.

With the regulation made in 2014, the voting rate required to benefit from treasury aid was reduced from the election threshold of 7 percent to 3 percent. The treasury aid of parties receiving between 3 and 7 percent of the votes is lower than other parties. Because the calculation is calculated based on a certain rate according to the parties that exceed the threshold.

Parties that receive 7 percent or more of the votes are included in the full calculation of treasury aid and receive a share of the aid according to the percentage of votes they receive. Electoral Law Journal Chief Editor Assoc. Dr. Fatih Güler said that there is no constitutional obstacle for the Parliament to make changes to the relevant law.

Fatih Güler reminded that the provisions regarding state aid in the Political Parties Law have been changed many times in the past: "If there is a legal regulation, there is no obstacle to them receiving aid immediately. This would not be contrary to the Constitution, because the Constitution only regulates general principles on this issue; Details are determined by law. Güler said that transferring some of the treasury aid paid to CHP in 2026 to the New Party would also require legal regulation.