Tansu ciller

Ciller, Tansu (b. 1946). Prime Minister of Turkey 1993–6 Born in Istanbul, into a wealthy family, she studied economics in Istanbul and at the Universities of New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Yale. After working for the World Bank she returned to become a professor at the Istanbul elite university of Bogazici. In 1990, she joined Demirel's True Path Party, and became Minister of Economics in 1991. In 1993, she succeeded Demirel to become Turkey's first female Prime Minister. She did preside over some economic growth, while her foreign policy was dominated by an effort to produce greater regional cooperation between Turkey and the other Turk states (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgiztan, Turkmenistan, and Turkistan). Her period in office was marred by the increasing radicalization of opposition by Islamic fundamentalist groups on the one hand and Kurdish groups fighting for an independent Kurdistan on the other. Despite the use of substantial military and police power, she was unable to overcome the latter, while the former won the elections of 1996. She then formed a coalition with the Islamic Welfare Pary, but after its ban her party returned into opposition. The DYP lost almost a third of its seats in the 1999 elections, but she remained party leader.

Tansu Çiller , 1946-, Turkish politician, first woman prime minister of Turkey (1993-96). She studied at the Univ. of the Bosporus, Istanbul (B.A.), Univ. of Connecticut (Ph.D.), and Yale, and was an economics professor during the late 1970s and 80s. Joining the ruling center-right True Path party (DYP) in 1990, she was elected to parliament in 1991. That year the generally liberal and pro-Western Çiller also became economics minister in Süleyman Demirel 's cabinet. In 1993 she was elected party leader and named prime minister. Although she instituted various austerity measures, the faltering Turkish economy continued to decline during her tenure, and the nation was plagued by violence from separatist Kurds in SE Turkey. After the DYP lost its majority (1995), she stayed on as caretaker prime minister until 1996, and was deputy prime minister and foreign minister from 1996 to 1997.