Patriotic Party (Turkey)


The Patriotic Party is a left-wing nationalist political party in Turkey.
The Patriotic Party describes itself as "vanguard party" and aims that bring together socialists, revolutionaries, Turkish nationalists and Kemalists.
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. 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.

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.

Foreign policy

The party is strongly pro-Russia and pro-China and anti-American because of its Eurasianist ideology. It is also strongly anti-NATO and advocates for Turkey's departure from it. It is also against Turkey's EU candidacy.
The Patriotic Party supports strong relations with countries such as Iran and North Korea. It also has strong party-to-party relations with parties such as the Communist Party of China and the Workers' Party of Korea.
The party strongly opposes the current Turkish intervention in Syria and actively promotes better ties with the Assad government. However, it supports the Turkish military operation against Rojava.