Admiral Soner Polat: Erdogan's Party May Lose Supporters

Vatan Partisi (Patriotic Party) struggled for no front in the referendum. In  the aftermath of election, VP applied to the High Election Committe to cancel the election due to the usage of unstamped envelopes which violated relevant election law. This application was rejected by the Committe.

VP is of the opinion that AKP and President Erdoğan has been on the decline! We don’t think it is possible for both to win the elections, which will be held on 3 Nov. 2019. It is plain truth thatTurkish society has been divided into two flanks after the election. However, unless large scale provocations are staged, we can not see favorable atmosphere for the clashes between both sides. There are no conditions in the country for that.

Keeping this in mind, we put thenational unity and territorial integrity of the country in the forefront now. For that reason, we are stronly opposed to any type of street demostration which may be manipulated  by outside actors. We do know that PKK and other sinister organizations are to exploit these activities for their ends. Also, we are trying hard to reunite "yes" and "no" fronts as was the case at the end of failed coup attempt on 15 July 2016.

For the first time, opposition thinks it is possible to win an election victory against AKP in the ballot box.  If a united strategy is executed by opposition, AKP is likely to further lose its supporters.

As for the foreign policy, in the shortrun, we do not expect radical changes. However, the course of Turkey-US relations may have direct impacts on many foreign policy issues. Although, President Erdoğan is trying to mend fences with Trump administration, we don’t think it is possible, since national interests of both sides are conflicting, not converging.