Çiller, Tansu

Çiller, Tansu (1946- ), first female Prime Minister of Turkey (1993-1996). Born in İstanbul, Çiller studied economics at Bogaziçi University, obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, and carried out post-doctoral studies at Yale University. She married a wealthy businessman and served in academic posts at various Turkish universities before entering politics in 1990, becoming adviser to Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel and deputy chair of his centre-right True Path Party (DYP). She was elected to parliament in October 1991 and appointed minister of state for the economy in the DYP-led coalition, advocating free-market and privatization policies.

After Demirel was elected president following the death of Turgut Özal, she mounted a successful challenge for the DYP leadership in June 1993 which automatically made her head of government. Her premiership was characterized by attempts to liberalize the economy which failed to curb high inflation and unemployment rates, and by a hardline approach to insurgency by Kurds in the south-east, in deference to the military establishment and nationalistic sentiment. She also fell out with her former mentor Demirel, undermining his associates within the DYP and seeking to supplant its traditional power base by appealing to urban business interests and women.

After the collapse in September 1995 of the governing partnership with the Republican People's Party, Çiller called early elections for December, hoping to capitalize on her government's success in securing a customs union with the European Union. The result was inconclusive, and after she failed to form a Cabinet with the Islamic Welfare Party (IWP) under Necmettin Erbakan, Çiller took the DYP into coalition in March 1996 with the centre-right Motherland Party, whose leader Mesut Yilmaz became prime minister. Fierce rivalry between the coalition leaders culminated in Çiller cooperating with Erbakan to force Yilmaz to resign in June. An IWP-DYP coalition was formed under Erbakan, despite resistance within the DYP to any partnership with the Islamists, and won a confidence vote on July 8, with Çiller named as deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Under the coalition's rotation agreement, she was due to take over the premiership after two years. Çiller's DYP was progressively weakened by defections of members objecting to coalition with the IWP, while the government came under increasing attack from Turkey's secular military establishment. Finally, in June 1997 Erbakan resigned as Prime Minister in favour of Çiller following relentless pressure from the military; however, President Demirel instead asked the Motherland Party to form a new government.