Is this Turkish anti-immigrant party helping Erdogan?
Critics argue that anti-immigrant Victory Party’s leader Umit Ozdag’s opposition has benefited President Recep Tayyip Erdogan so far.
Turkey never had an openly anti-immigrant political party, until the Victory Party (ZP) emerged as an ultranationalist establishment in August 2021. Although the party is part of the opposition, pundits question whether the party’s anti-immigrant stand aids Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Victory Party leader Umit Ozdag, who is a seasoned right-wing nationalist politician and a political science professor, founded the party after he resigned from the opposition Good Party. Ozdag speaks softly but with a simple snarky humor. His party's major slogan is, “The Victory Party will come and refugees will leave.” Ozdag, whose rhetoric is much like any other anti-immigrant far-right European party, paints refugees as the source of almost all of the problems that the country faces.
