Tansu Çiller, Turkish economist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Turkey
Tansu Çiller (Turkish: [ˈtansu tʃiˈlːæɾ]; born 24 May 1946) is a Turkish academic, economist, and politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Turkey from 1993 to 1996. She is Turkey's first and only female prime minister to date. As the leader of the True Path Party, she went on to concurrently serve as Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and as Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1996 and 1997.
As a Professor of Economics, Çiller was appointed Minister of State for the economy by Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel in 1991. When Demirel was elected as President in 1993, Çiller was elected leader of the True Path Party and succeeded Demirel as Prime Minister.
Several reports of international organizations of human rights documented destroying and burning Kurdish villages and towns and extrajudicial killings of Kurdish civilians perpetrated by the Turkish forces during Çiller’s regime of 1993-1996.Shortly after winning the 1994 local elections, large-scale capital flight due to the lack of confidence in Çiller's budget deficit targets led to the Turkish Lira and foreign currency reserves' almost collapsing. Amid the subsequent economic crisis and austerity measures, her government signed the EU-Turkey Customs Union in 1995. Her government was alleged to have supported the 1995 Azeri coup d'état attempt and presided over an escalation of tensions with Greece after claiming sovereignty over the Imia/Kardak islets.
Although the DYP came third in the 1995 general election, she remained as Prime Minister until Necmettin Erbakan formed a government in 1996 with Çiller becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Susurluk car crash in 1996 and the subsequent Susurluk scandal revealed the relations between extra-legal organisations and Çiller's government. Revelations that Çiller had employed individuals such as Abdullah Çatlı led to a decline in her approval ratings. Erbakan's government fell following a military memorandum in 1997 and the DYP declined further in the 1999 general election. Despite coming third in the 2002 general election, Çiller's DYP won less than 10% of the vote and thus lost all parliamentary representation, which led to her resignation as party leader and departure from active politics.