Abbreviation Vatan Partisi Secretary-General Osman Yılmaz | President Doğu Perinçek Preceded by Workers' Party | |
Founded July 10, 1992 (1992-07-10) (as Workers' Party)
February 15, 2015 (2015-02-15) (rebranding) Headquarters Toros Sokak 9, 06430
Sıhhiye, Çankaya, Ankara | ||
The Patriotic Party (Turkish: Vatan Partisi) is a left-wing 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.
Etymology
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. Colloquially the acronym VP is used.