Turkish lawmaker resigns from Republican People’s Party

Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Ihsan Ozkes has resigned from the party.

The deputy for Istanbul submitted his resignation to party chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu at the CHP headquarters in Ankara on Monday, an Anadolu Agency correspondent reported.

He is yet to announce whether he will join one of the other three parliamentary parties or remain in the Grand National Assembly as an independent. The CHP came second in June’s general election, winning 132 seats, and is involved in ongoing coalition talks with the Justice and Development (AK) Party, which won the largest share of seats but no majority.

Ozkes, a former mufti, became a CHP deputy in 2011. He was the party’s candidate for the mayoralty of Uskudar in Istanbul in last year’s local elections and received the highest number of votes to join the party's governing council last September.