Tansu Çiller and her role in Turkish political life (1990-2002)

Abstract

Tansu Çiller is a Turkish female figure who has been involved in Turkish political life since the early 1990s. Holding the position of Prime Minister for the first time in modern Turkish history, thanks to her party and professional qualifications. Our research is titled "Tansu Çiller and Her Role in Turkish Political Life (1990-2002)," because this title has not previously been researched as an independent academic study of her life and political role. Çiller is a prominent academic and politician who held high political and governmental positions, being the head of the True Path Party, Prime Minister, in addition to Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs. We set the timeframe from 1990 because Ciller entered political life in this year, and the end of her career and her withdrawal from politics was in 2002. This period was full of political developments and changes in global politics, including the end of the Cold War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the independence of its neighboring Islamic republics, as well as the Second Gulf War and the developments that accompanied it. Especially with regard to the Kurdish issue, which has preoccupied the Turkish state, both internally, represented by the increasing activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and externally, as its relations became strained internationally and regionally. After the Kurdish parties took control of Iraqi Kurdistan, this affected its relations with neighboring countries, in addition to its problems with Greece.