Vatan Party (VP) Chairman Doğu Perinçek has announced that he plans to be a candidate in the 2019 presidential elections.

Speaking at a press conference held at VP headquarters on Tuesday, Perinçek said that the decision was made by the party's Central Executive Committee and Central Decision Board (MKYK).

"The chairman of the [VP]is also a natural candidate for the presidential election. However, we have decided to launch a joint initiative and determine the candidate together after holding talks with other nationalist, populist, revolutionary figures in Turkey. We can say, 'The VP chairman is the presumptive nominee for the presidential election' for now, because we don't know who will be the [party] chairman when the time for presidential election comes," he said.

Perinçek added that the party will also enter parliamentarian and local elections with its own candidates.

The VP chairman contended that the Turkish people "entered a process of setting aside" from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) according to the results of the April 16 referendum.

"For this reason, the AK Party government has come to the end of its power. It's our duty to establish a ‘national government' option," he said.

Responding to a question about what the party's possible attitude would be in the event that an alliance were forged between it and the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) prior to the election, Perinçek ruled out such possibility, saying that the CHP entered an alliance with "a figure that threatens Turkey," including the PKK terrorist organization, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).

Perinçek also contended that the leader of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Massoud Barzani will withdraw his decision to hold a referendum for independence.

"He [Barzani] is being deceived by Israel and the U.S. While they have propelled him, but now, even the U.S. is seeking ways to postpone the referendum," he said.

In a televised interview with Habertürk yesterday, Perinçek also responded to criticism from the opposition for the VP's backing of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AK Party government, saying he sided with him because "the U.S. tried to overthrow President Erdoğan." "Today, Turkey is waging a war with the U.S. and its pioneers," he said.