Patriotic Party (Turkey)

The Patriotic Party[lower-alpha 1] (Turkish: Vatan Partisi, VATAN) is a left-wing nationalist political party in Turkey.

Patriotic Party

Vatan Partisi
AbbreviationVatan Partisi
PresidentDoğu Perinçek
Secretary-GeneralUtku Reyhan
Founded10 July 1992 (1992-07-10) (as Workers' Party)
15 February 2015 (2015-02-15) (rebranding)
Preceded byWorkers' Party
HeadquartersToros Sokak 9, 06430
Sıhhiye, Çankaya, Ankara
NewspaperAydınlık
Think tankNational Strategy Center (USMER)
Youth wingVanguard Youth
Women's wingVanguard Women
Membership (2021) 19,281[1]
IdeologyScientific socialism
Kemalism
Turkish nationalism
Left-wing nationalism
Left-wing populism
Anti-imperialism
Vanguardism
Eurasianism
Political positionLeft-wing to far-left[2]
National affiliationPeople's Alliance[3] (Supporting)
Colors  Red
  White[4]
AnthemVatan Partisi Marşı on YouTube
Website
vatanpartisi.org.tr

The Patriotic Party describes itself as "vanguard party"[6] and aims that bring together socialists, revolutionaries, Turkish nationalists and Kemalists.[7]

The party was founded in 1992 as Workers' Party. In 2015, after a long-time political repositioning period, the Workers' Party changed its name to "Patriotic Party" during the extraordinary congress.[8] Like the Workers' Party, the Patriotic Party is led by Doğu Perinçek. The party's founding members include former army generals who had been pursued during the Ergenekon trials and the Sledgehammer case, though both cases have been thrown out since then.[9]

Ideology

The party has its roots as a Maoist party, although its ideology has shifted towards a left-wing nationalism in the recent years. Because of its hard-line nationalism, the party opposes the Kurdish peace process.[10]

Foreign policy

The party is strongly pro-Russia[11] and pro-China[12] and anti-American because of its Eurasianist ideology.[10] It is also strongly anti-NATO and advocates for Turkey's departure from it.[11] It is also against Turkey's EU candidacy.[10]

The Patriotic Party supports strong relations with countries such as Iran[13] and North Korea.[14] It also has strong party-to-party relations with parties such as the Chinese Communist Party[15] and the Workers' Party of Korea.[16]

The party strongly opposes the current Turkish intervention in Syria and actively promotes better ties with the Assad government.[17] However, it supports the Turkish military operation against Rojava.[18]

Notes
  1. The party's Turkish name Vatan directly translates to Motherland or Homeland; however the party has adopted the English name Patriotic Party. This is most likely in order not to clash with parties that have a similar name when translated to English, such as the Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi) or the Homeland Party (Yurt Partisi). Patriotic in Turkish translates to Vatansever or Yurtsever. The party's official short name (abbreviation) is Vatan Partisi, i.e., the same as the name of the party itself.[5][6] Colloquially the acronym VP is used. The party is not directly related to an earlier, communist party of the same name, founded in 1954, closed by court order in 1957, re-established in 1975 and forced to close again in 1981.

    References
    1. "Vatan Partisi" (in Turkish). Yargıtay Cumhuriyet Başsavcılığı. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
    2. Jacinto, Leela. "Turkey's Post-Coup Purge and Erdogan's Private Army".
    3. "Cumhur İttifakı'na Perinçek ve Uzan" (in Turkish). 20 December 2019.
    4. 2015 GENEL SEÇİM KURUMSAL KİMLİK KILAVUZU Archived 2020-03-24 at the Wayback Machine, 2015.
    5. "Vatan Partisi" (in Turkish). T.C. Yargıtay Cumhuriyet Başsavcılığı. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
    6. "Vatan Partisi tüzüğü" (in Turkish). Retrieved 18 May 2015.
    7. Turkey: Workers' Party changes name to Patriotic Party Archived 2015-02-22 at the Wayback Machine. turkishweekly.net. 16 February 2015
    8. "Artık ‘İşçi’ değil ‘Vatan’ Partisi". milliyet.com.tr. 16 February 2015.
    9. "Vatan Partisi MYK üyeleri belli oldu, işte o isimler!" Archived 2016-05-28 at the Wayback Machine. Çağdaş Ses.
    10. "Turkey elections 2018: Understanding the political parties". TRT World. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
    11. @DFRLab (2017-11-23). "#LetsLeaveNATO trends in Turkey". Medium. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
    12. "CPC-led China offers hope for better world -- Turkish party leader - China - Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
    13. "Doğu Perinçek: "Vatan Partisi hükümeti İran'a yaptırıma katılmayacak"". Retrieved 29 August 2019.
    14. "Vatan Partisi Heyeti, Kuzey Kore'ye Gitti - İstanbul". Haberler.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-11-28.
    15. "Çin Komünist Partisi'nden Vatan Partisi'ne ziyaret". Retrieved 29 August 2019.
    16. "Kuzey Kore'den Vatan Partisi'ne kutlama mesajı". CNN Türk (in Turkish). Retrieved 2019-08-28.
    17. "Vatan Partisi President Perinçek's Call to President Erdoğan: "Cooperate with Syria or resign"". Vatan Partisi. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
    18. https://web.archive.org/save/https://twitter.com/Vatan_Partisi/status/1181973848775897091


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