Meral Akşener

Meral Akşener — Biography

Moving from academia into politics, Turkish politician Meral Akşener became the first woman to serve as Turkey's interior minister. She sat in the Grand National Assembly as a deputy of the True Path Party and the Nationalist Movement Party, served as a deputy speaker from 2007 to 2015, and led the İYİ Party, which she founded on October 25, 2017, until 2024.

Born in İzmit, Akşener graduated from the Bursa Girls' Teacher Training High School and finished the History Department of Istanbul University's Faculty of Letters in 1979. After three years as a teacher she became a research assistant at Yıldız Technical University's Kocaeli faculty; she completed a master's degree and a doctorate in Turkish history at Marmara University and chaired the history of the revolution department at Kocaeli University. She was among the founders of the Zübeyde Hanım Martyrs' Families Foundation and served as its president.

She entered politics in the mid-1990s with the True Path Party, became head of its women's branch and was elected to parliament in 1995. In the 54th government under Necmettin Erbakan she was interior minister from late 1996 until June 30, 1997. She was re-elected in 1999, left the True Path Party and joined the MHP in 2001, and entered parliament from that party in 2007, 2011 and June 2015. In 2007 she was elected deputy speaker alongside Güldal Mumcu, among the first women in that post since 1968. After the 2024 local elections she stepped down as party chair and Müsavat Dervişoğlu succeeded her. In July 2026 she set up a foundation bearing her name.