Ciller, Tansu

Turkish politician, prime minister 1993–96 and a forthright exponent of free-market economic policies. She won the leadership of the centre-right True Path Party and the premiership on the election of Suleyman Demirel as president, becoming Turkey's first female prime minister. Her support for a military, as opposed to a diplomatic, approach to Kurdish insurgency provoked international criticism; in 1995 relations with her coalition partners deteriorated, and a general election was called for December. The result was inconclusive and, after prolonged attempts to form a new coalition, she agreed in 1996 to have a rotating premiership with the Motherland Party leader, Mesut Yilmaz. However, this arrangement foundered in June 1996 following allegations of corruption against Ciller. In October 1997 her husband was charged with changing figures on the balance sheet of a US firm owned by the family.

Born in Istanbul, she trained as an economist, securing a PhD from the University of Connecticut in the USA, and became a lecturer and university professor. Ciller entered politics in 1990, joining the True Path Party and becoming economic adviser to Prime Minister Demirel. She joined the government in 1991 and, on assuming the premiership in May 1993, embarked on an extensive economic-reform programme, combining privatization with austerity measures, and securing a customs union agreement with the European Union. Nicknamed Turkey's ‘iron lady with a smile’, she made her husband take her maiden name.