Tansu Çiller

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tansu Çiller (IPA: /ˈtɑn.su.ˈtʃil.lɛɹ/ (born 9 October 1946) is an economist and politician in Turkey. She was Turkey's first and to date only female prime minister.

She was born in Istanbul and graduated from the School of Economics at Robert College after finishing the American College for Girls of Istanbul. Çiller received her Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut and completed later on her postdoctoral studies at Yale University. In 1978, she became a lecturer and in 1983 a professor.

After teaching at several universities as a professor, she entered politics in November 1990 joining the True Path Party. She was first elected to parliament in 1991 as deputy of Istanbul and served as Minister of State in charge of economics in the coalition government of Suleyman Demirel. On June 13, 1993, she became party leader and then prime minister of a coalition government. The withdrawal of the Republican People's Party from coalition in 1996 brought down her government.

She was investigated in the Turkish Parliament on serious corruption accusations following her period in government. Along with Mesut Yılmaz she was later cleared for all the charges mainly due to technicalities such as statue of limitation and political immunity. Many in Turkey believe that such charges played an important role in the emergence of political Islam in Turkey, that eventually led to the victory of the present government of Recep T. Erdoğan.

After the election defeat in November 2002, she retired from political life.

She is married to Özer Çiller and they have two children.

Preceded by Süleyman Demirel	Leader of the True Path Party 1993–2002	Succeeded by Mehmet Ağar
Preceded by Süleyman Demirel	Prime Minister of Turkey 1993–1996	Succeeded by Mesut Yılmaz
Preceded by Emre Gönensay	Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey 1996–1997	Succeeded by İsmail Cem

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey

Bekir Sami Kunduk • Ahmet Muhtar Mollaoğlu • Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenk • İsmet İnönü • Şükrü Kaya • Tevfik Rüştü Aras • Şükrü Saracoğlu • Numan Menemencioğlu • Hasan Saka • Necmettin Sadak • Mehmet Fuat Köprülü • Adnan Menderes • Fatin Rüştü Zorlu • Ethem Menderes • Selim Sarper • Feridun Cemal Erkin • Hasan Esat Işık • İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil • Osman Olcay • Haluk Bayülken • Turan Güneş • Metin Esenbel • Gündüz Ökçün • Hayrettin Erkmen • Ertuğrul Ekrem Ceyhun • İlter Türkmen • Vahit Melih Halefoğlu • Mesut Yılmaz • Ali Bozer • Ahmet Kurtcebe Alptemoçin • Safa Giray • Hikmet Çetin • Mümtaz Soysal • Murat Karayalçın • Erdal İnönü • Coşkun Kırca • Deniz Baykal • Emre Gönensay • Tansu Çiller • İsmail Cem • Şükrü Sina Gürel • Yaşar Yakış • Abdullah Gül

Leaders of the True Path Party
Süleyman Demirel • Tansu Çiller • Mehmet Ağar