@article{article_1574198, title={Influence of Anti-Immigration Attitudes on Voter Behavior and Its Limits: Turkish Politics and the Case of the Victory Party}, journal={Marmara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilimler Dergisi}, volume={13}, pages={181–199}, year={2025}, DOI={10.14782/marmarasbd.1574198}, author={Gerim, Giray}, keywords={göç karşıtı partiler, mülteci karşıtı tutumlar, göç karşıtı siyaset, Zafer Partisi (Victory Party), Türk milliyetçiliği}, abstract={Türkiye experienced a significant influx of migrants from Syria following the onset of the civil conflict in that country in 2011, subsequently accompanied by an additional wave of migration from other politically unstable regions over the past decade. Research shows that constituents of nearly all political factions within Turkish politics exhibit a distinctly negative disposition towards this surge of immigrants. While various political figures have articulated grievances within Turkish society concerning this matter to a certain degree, the inaugural explicitly anti-immigration political entity, the Victory Party (Zafer Partisi - ZP), was founded in August 2021. Considering both the surveys assessing the views of Turkish society regarding refugees and immigrants and the electoral percentages attained by anti-immigration political parties in European countries experiencing immigration, the electoral achievement of this party has been markedly constrained, attaining only 2.23% in the general elections of May 2023 and 2.57% in the local elections of March 2024. This article problematizes the relative electoral underperformance of the party. Conducting a long-term analysis of Turkish politics with the process tracing methodology, it argues that the cleavages that have been of key importance in the shaping of Turkish party politics and the polarization that has been built upon them, especially during the AK Party governments, have limited the party’s electoral support by preventing immigration from being seen as a primary concern by the voters.}, number={1}, publisher={Marmara Üniversitesi}