Meral Akşener

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Meral Akşener
Meral Akşener, September 2021 (cropped).jpg
Meral Akşener in September 2021
Leader of the İYİ Party
Assumed office
25 October 2017
Preceded byParty established
Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly
In office
10 August 2007 – 7 June 2015
SpeakerKöksal Toptan
Mehmet Ali Şahin
Cemil Çiçek
Served withSadık Yakut
Mehmet Sağlam [tr]
Güldal Mumcu
Ayşe Nur Bahçekapılı
Nevzat Pakdil [tr]
Eyyüp Cenap Gülpınar [tr]
Preceded byYılmaz Ateş [tr]
Succeeded byKoray Aydın
Minister of the Interior
In office
8 November 1996 – 30 June 1997
Prime MinisterNecmettin Erbakan
Preceded byMehmet Ağar
Succeeded byMurat Başesgioğlu
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office
22 July 2007 – 1 November 2015
Constituencyİstanbul (III) (2007, 2011, Jun 2015)
In office
24 December 1995 – 3 November 2002
Constituencyİstanbul (1995)
Kocaeli (1999)
Personal details
Born (1956-07-18) 18 July 1956 (age 67)
İzmit, Turkey
Political partyİYİ Party (2017–present)
Other political
affiliations		True Path Party (1995–2001)
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) (2001–2016)
Spouse
Tuncer Akşener
​
(m. 1980)​
ChildrenFatih Akşener
Alma materIstanbul University
Marmara University
OccupationPolitician, academic, historian
Websitemeralaksener.com.tr
NicknameAsena

Meral Akşener (née Gürer, Turkish pronunciation: [meˈɾal ˈakʃenæɾ]; born 18 July 1956) is a Turkish politician, teacher, historian and academic. She served as Minister of the Interior and was a vice-speaker of the Grand National Assembly. She also founded and is leader of the Good Party (İYİ Party), and was its candidate in the 2018 Turkish presidential elections.

Akşener first entered parliament as a deputy of the True Path Party (DYP) in the 1995 and 1999 general election, and served as the interior minister in the coalition government established by Necmettin Erbakan between 1996 and 1997. Akşener entered the parliament as a deputy of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in the 2007, 2011 and June 2015 general elections. After tensions between her and the MHP's leader Devlet Bahçeli, she was not nominated as an MP for the November 2015 general election. In 2016, she led a group of opposition within the party against Bahçeli. On 25 October 2017, she separated from the MHP and founded the Good Party, of which she is the leader.

Akşener is a key opposition figure in Turkish politics, and has been dubbed as an "iron lady" by international observers.[1][2]

Early life

Meral Akşener was born on 18 July 1956, in the Gündoğdu neighbourhood of İzmit, Kocaeli. Her father Tahir Ömer and her mother Sıddıka are Balkan Turks from Macedonia and Thrace. Her parents were among hundreds of thousands who left Greece to resettle in Turkey in 1923.[1]

She studied history at Istanbul University and she completed her post-graduate studies at the Social Sciences Institute of Marmara University, earning a Ph.D. in history. She then worked as a lecturer at Yıldız Technical University, Kocaeli University and Marmara University before entering politics.[3][4]

DYP and interior ministry

Meral's older brother was president of MHP's İzmit branch, which gave her connections to right-wing politicians. Akşener quit her post as a university department chair and entered politics with the 1994 municipal elections, running under the True Path Party (DYP) as the mayoral candidate for Kocaeli. Catching DYP's chairwoman and then prime minister Tansu Çiller's attention, Akşener became the chair of the women's branch of the DYP and she entered parliament in the 1995 general election as a DYP deputy from Istanbul Province. Akşener was a proponent of governing with the Motherland Party but without a possible majority, Çiller instead formed a coalition government with Necmettin Erbakan's Islamist Refah Party.[5]

From the outset, Akşener was opposed to the arrangement, but Çiller kept her close by appointing her as one of the DYP’s general vice-presidents, as well as responsibility of the party's General Governing Council and women’s and youth issues. Akşener replaced Mehmet Ağar as Minister of the Interior after his resignation due to his involvement in the Susurluk scandal, becoming the first female interior minister in Turkish history.[4]

Akşener replaced many officials with ties to organized crime, but even she was implicated when it emerged that she attended a wedding with Ağar and Abdullah Çatlı.[5] Suspicious of her coalition partner, Akşener backed a rejected bill to replace Refah mayors that were governing against secular principles, which contributed to the escalation of the 1997 military memerandum. She was forced out of office with the collapse of the REFAH-YOL government.[2][5] By her own account, her teniour as interior minister saw security services conduct "the longest, broadest, and most comprehensive cross-border actions [against the PKK] in history."

In 1999 she was re-elected to parliament as a deputy of Kocaeli Province, but sensing DYP's decline, she led a group of DYP members against Çiller by courting other right wing parties. On 4 July, 2001, Akşener left the DYP for the "innovative wing" of the Welfare party, led by Abdullah Gül and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[6][7] The innovative wing would soon found the Justice and Development Party (AKP) on 14 August. However she was dissatisfied with the continuation of the National Outlook ideology in the new party,[8] and joined the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in 3 November.[9] She immediately became chief advisor for political affairs for MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli.[10] However like most established parties, MHP was ejected from parliament when it wasn't able to clear the 10% threshold in the 2002 snap election, and Akşener lost her seat.

MHP deputy

She was the MHP's candidate for the Istanbul mayoralty in the 2004 mayoral elections. Later, Akşener was rejoined parliament in 2007 representing Istanbul Province,[4] and was elected vice-speaker of the parliament alongside Güldal Mumcu, another female politician, serving as Turkey's first female vice-speaker since 1968.[4] She served in the Turkey-China Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group of the parliament.[11] She re-elected in the 2011 and June 2015 general elections. However, she was not nominated on the MHP's lists in the November 2015 snap election.[8]

When MHP lost half of its MPs in the election and Bahçeli openly supported Erdoğan; Akşener demanded an extraordinary congress to oust the chairman.[1] On 8 September, 2016, she was expelled from the MHP. She promised to start her own political party.

Leader of the Good Party

Main article: Good Party

Under her leadership the Good Party was founded on 25 October, 2017. In her first address to her followers, Akşener stated she believed that Turkish democracy is "under threat" and the Good Party wants a free society and to fix the problems of the Turkish judiciary system.[12] Akşener further stated the "media should not be under pressure. Democratic participation, a strong parliament and the national will are irreplaceable. We will democratize the law on political parties in the of contemporary democratic principles and the criteria of the Venice Commission."[12] Aksener said that many who are joining her movement are young Turkish citizens who are "chafing under the restrictions" imposed by the government on public gatherings, freedom of expression, and constraints placed on the media.[1]

The Good Party only had five MPs on its foundation, not enough to form a parliamentary group to participate in an election. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), transferred 15 MPs to her party to allow her party to compete in the 2018 general election.[13] On 1 May, CHP, Good Party, Felicity Party, and Democrat Party announced the Nation Alliance as an electoral alliance to challenge the People's Alliance of AKP and MHP. She was Good Party's presidential candidate in the election and received 7.3% of the vote,[2][14] while her party captured 43 seats.

The Nation Alliance was continued for the 2019 local elections. After negotiations between Akşener and Kılıçdaroğlu, CHP and Good Party agreed to compete in separate provinces, and nominated Mansur Yavaş as a joint candidate for the Ankara mayoralty.[15] The two campaigned together during the election. While Good Party didn't win any mayoralties, Yavaş won Ankara, CHP took the cities of Istanbul, Bolu, Antalya, Mersin, Bilecik, Artvin, Ardahan and Kırşehir from AKP,[16] and Good Party was the third most voted party. Akşener condemned the decision to repeat the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality elections.[17] During the election campaign period, she toured all districts of Istanbul and supported Ekrem İmamoğlu in his campaign.

Akşener refused to run for president in the upcoming presidential elections, instead saying that she would run for prime minister once the opposition is able to return Turkey to a parliamentary system.

Personal life

Meral Gürer married Tuncer Akşener, an engineer, in 1980. Their son, Fatih Akşener, was born 1984. Meral Akşener has been described as a devout Muslim who prays regularly.[18] She is known to her supporters as Asena, after the mythical she-wolf.[18]

She supports the football teams Galatasaray and İzmitspor.[19]

Controversies

During the 1990s, Akşener threatened journalists who spoke out against the government, when she said “Until now, we have succeeded in preventing any unwanted event to occur. Still we will try. But after today, we know we will have difficulty holding back our Tansu-Çiller-fanatic youths. We are warning you for the last time."[5]

While Akşener carried out the military's demands in the lead up of the 1997 military memorandum, one of her appointees was charged with wiretapping high ranking commanders of the Turkish Armed Forces, which created serious friction between her and the Turkish military. Allegedly one general threatened to “impale her like a goose.”[5]

Akşener accused Abdullah Öcalan of being "Armenian spawn" (Ermeni tohumu).

Akşener's frequently uses nicknames for various government aligned politicians, some of which stuck around. Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak has been nicknamed by Akşener as "Damat" (royal son-in-law) for his marriage to Esra Erdoğan.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Gall, Carlotta (5 January 2018). "A Rival Steps Up to Challenge Turkey's President Erdogan". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 January 2018. The daughter of a civil servant, Ms. Aksener grew up in a small rural village in western Turkey. Her family was among the hundreds of thousands resettled from Greece in the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey in 1923.
  2. ^ a b c Malsin, Jared. "Turkey's 'Iron Lady' Meral Aksener Is Getting Ready to Challenge Erdogan". Time. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  3. ^ Biography
  4. ^ a b c d "Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi 23. Dönem Milletvekili-Meral Akşener" (in Turkish). TBMM. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
  5. ^ a b c d e Silverman, Reuben (21 June 2018). "Turkey's Back to the Future Opposition: Part One". Jadaliyya.
  6. ^ "Akşener, DYP'den istifa etti, Yenilikçiler'e katıldı". Hürriyet. 4 July 2001.
  7. ^ "DYP'den ayrılan Akşener yenilikçilere katıldı". NTV MSNBC. 4 July 2001.
  8. ^ a b "Portre: Meral Akşener". [[Aljezeera. 18 September 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-08-28.
  9. ^ "Meral Akşener MHP'ye geçti". NTV MSNBC. 3 November 2001. Archived from the original on 2016-05-16.
  10. ^ "Akşener başdanışman". Radikal. 16 November 2001.
  11. ^ "MHP Meral Akşener'i aday göstermedi". Radikal. 18 September 2015.
  12. ^ a b "Akşener hints at run for presidency in 2019 as she forms 'Good Party'". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  13. ^ Başaran, Rıfat (22 April 2018). "CHP'den 15 milletvekili İYİ Parti'ye geçti". Hürriyet.
  14. ^ "Erdogan tightens grip with Turkey poll win". 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  15. ^ "Mansur Yavaş'tan İYİ Parti'ye ret!". Haber Türk. 11 December 2018.
  16. ^ "31 Mart Yerel Seçim Sonuçları". Sabah. Archived from the original on 2019-03-27.
  17. ^ "Akşener: "Talimatla karar veren yargı mensupları adına utanıyorum"". Yeni Çağ. 7 May 2019.
  18. ^ a b "A challenge to Turkey's Erdogan". The Economist. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  19. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Meral Akşener Özel Röportajı | 1997 | 32.Gün Arşivi". YouTube.
  20. ^ "Meral Akşener'den Albayrak'a: Damat bey, sen nereye bakıyorsun?". Cumhuriyet. 6 October 2020.

External links

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