Victory Party: The ‘European’ populists of Turkey?

Turkey’s national holiday is May 19th. A day with strong symbolism, dedicated to Turkish youth by the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. On March 19, 1919, Ataturk started the war of liberation against the Western powers that lasted until the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. At least that is what the Turkish history books say. For Umit Ozdag, president of the newly formed Victory Party, this date gave him the opportunity to use the paper of nationalism. Together with a group he visited the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara and posed with passers-by in front of the big monument. In fact, the people who recognized him, wanted to take a selfie with him. A passerby blessed him, “fortunately you exist” he said. A woman even kissed him on the forehead.

He plays the refugee card loudly

Umit Ozdag is the rising star of Turkish politics in recent weeks. Wherever he appears, a crowd immediately forms around him. People want to see him up close, many want to express their support. The reason is simple: Ozdag refers to specific issues that concern many Turks. Galloping inflation, shrinking purchasing power, existential fear and the alleged alienation of people within the country by refugees. According to official data, 3.8 million officially registered Syrians live in Turkey. But the real number is higher. Why should refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and other countries be added? The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are 320,000, but the number may be even higher. “We do not want our people to fight hunger and poverty at a time when our taxpayers’ money is being spent on Syrians, Afghans and Pakistanis,” Ozdag said. His verbal attacks on refugees are affecting many Turks because they are afraid. Inflation has reached 70%, people are suffering from a sharp rise in prices. And there is no solution on the horizon. But who is Ozdag? Certainly not a new “savior”. Because he has been in the Turkish political establishment for a long time. But the tone of his speeches is new.

A descendant of a political family, his father was a confidant of Alparslan Turkes, the founder of the extremist party, the Nationalist Movement MHP, which is an exponent of the hard-right Turkish state. In Germany it is better known through the organization Gray Wolves, with specific structures in Germany. The Gray Wolves are under surveillance by the Constitution Protection Service. Ozdag’s son was born in Japan, where his father served in the diplomatic corps in the early 1960s. He studied in Munich – political science, philosophy and economics. He joined the Nationalist Movement Party in the youth organization and then in the presidency, when he was expelled in 2016 after open criticism of his leadership. A year earlier, the party allied itself with Erdogan’s AKP, even helping him gain a majority to rule. Being a political crutch of Erdogan was something he was deeply dissatisfied with. With other like-minded people who left the MHP, he founded the conservative-nationalist “lyi Parti |”, which he resigned in 2021 after a dispute with his top leadership and eventually founded his own party, the Victory Party.

Parallels with European ethno-populists

The new party garnered much interest following right-wing extremist, racist and anti-refugee statements by Ozdag. Recent polls in early May show that it has exceeded 2%, relatively high for Turkish standards. Kemal Bozay, a professor at the International University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf and Cologne who has been following Turkish supranationalists for years, sees the party as supranationalist in its party program with populist right-wing rhetoric and pan-Turkism or pan-Turanism, as he told Deutsche Welle. Pan-Turanism is the ideology of a nationally homogeneous state that includes all Turks or peoples of Turkish descent from the Balkans to China under Turkish leadership. According to the expert, Ozdag’s party manifesto includes such historical nationalist elements. It is also noteworthy that after the founding of the Victory Party, Ozdag visited the tomb of Alpaslan Turkes, the former leader of the Gray Wolves, to suggest that his party was based on the same old tradition. It should also be noted that he is harshly critical of the ruling party. He recently clashed with Interior Minister Suleiman Soilou. So can the Victory Party establish itself on the Turkish party scene? For political scientist Berk Essen of Sabanci University, it is still too early to make a prediction. “Estimates of the party’s dynamics can only be made in a few years, when it takes place in other areas as well,” he said.

In the past, however, there has been a split in the history of Turkish supranationalists. Its Islamist right-wing extremist wing split in 1993 and founded the “Great Unity Party”. For them, Islam is a very important element of Turkish identity, “but for Umit Ozdag and his party it does not play a significant role,” says Kemal Bozoi. For political scientist Berk Essen, the Victory Party draws parallels with European populists. “Not only because of the anti-refugee positions. For Ozdag, Turkey is made up of two camps. On the one hand, there is the government and the opposition as a political elite that does not seem to react when the refugees invade Turkey and on the other. “It’s the people Ozdag wants to save with the Victory Party. It is a wonder that such a party was not founded much earlier,” he said, referring to the ruling AKP’s alliance with nationalists backing Erdogan in his refugee policy. although there has been a great deal of noise among his followers. Now whether the nationalists can keep their followers or eventually join the Victory Party is difficult to predict. In any case, the issue of refugees will continue to be of concern to Turkish society.

Elmas Toptsou

Edited by: Irini Anastassopoulou

Source: Capital

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