Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan Succeeded by Murat Basesgioglu Role Turkish Politician Parents Tahir Omer, Siddika | Preceded by Mehmet Agar Name Meral Aksener Nationality Turkish Children Fatih Aksener | |
 | ||
Preceded by Nevzat Pakdil, Sadik Yakut, Guldal Mumcu Preceded by Ismail Alptekin, Nevzat Pakdil, Sadik Yakut, Yilmaz Ates Succeeded by Mehmet Saglam, Sadik Yakut, Guldal Mumcu Party Nationalist Movement Party Education Istanbul University, Marmara University Similar People Sinan Ogan, Devlet Bahceli, Oktay Vural, Tansu Ciller, Koray Aydin | ||
Turkey's presidential elections and candidates: 5 facts about Meral Aksener
Meral Akşener (born July 8, 1956) is a Turkish politician. She served as Minister of the Interior and was former a vice-speaker of the parliament. In 2016, she led a group of opposition within the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) against its leader Devlet Bahçeli.
Contents
Early life
Meral Akşener was born on July 8, 1956 to Tahir Ömer and his wife Sıddıka in Gündoğdu neighborhood of İzmit.
She studied History at Istanbul University. She completed her post graduate studies at the Social Sciences Institute of Marmara University earning a Ph.D. She then worked as a lecturer at the Yıldız Technical University, Kocaeli University and Marmara University before entering politics.
Politics
She entered politics with the general elections in 1995 as deputy of Istanbul Province from the Right Path Party (DYP). Akşener was the Minister of the Interior between November 8, 1996 and June 30, 1997 replacing Mehmet Ağar, who resigned as a result of his involvement in the Susurluk scandal.
Akşener was re-elected to the parliament in the 1995 general election as deputy of Kocaeli Province. Later she was re-elected in the general elections of 2007 and 2011 representing Istanbul Province as a member of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
She was elected vice-speaker of the parliament alongside Güldal Mumcu, another female politician, as serving at this post after Nermin Neftçi, who was elected in 1968 to be Turkey's first female vice-speaker.