True Path Party
Which political party did Meral Akşener belong to from 1995 to 2001?
Meral Akşener Meral Akşener ( née Gürer ; born 18 July 1956 ) is a Turkish politician , teacher , historian and academic . She served as Minister of the Interior and was a vice-speaker of the Grand National Assembly . She also founded and is chairman of İYİ Party ( Good Party ) , and was its candidate in the 2018 Turkish presidential elections . Akşener first entered parliament as a deputy of the True Path Party in the 1995 and 1999 general elections , and served as the interior minister in the coalition government established by Necmettin Erbakan between 1996 and 1997 . Akşener entered the parliament as a deputy of the Nationalist Movement Party ( MHP ) in the Turkish general elections in 2007 , 2011 and June 2015 . After tensions between her and the MHPs leader Devlet Bahçeli , she was not nominated as an MP for the November 2015 general elections . In 2016 , she led a group of opposition within the MHP against Bahçeli . On 25 October 2017 , she separated from the MHP and founded the İYİ Party , of which she is the leader . Akşener is a key opposition figure in Turkey , and has been informally dubbed as an iron lady by international observers . Early and personal life . Meral Akşener was born on 18 July 1956 , in the Gündoğdu neighborhood of İzmit , Kocaeli . Her father Tahir Ömer and her mother Sıddıka are Balkan Turks from the historical regions of Macedonia and Thrace . Her parents were among hundreds of thousands who left Greece to resettle in Turkey in 1923 . She studied history at Istanbul University and she completed her post-graduate studies at the Social Sciences Institute of Marmara University , earning a Ph.D . in history . She then worked as a lecturer at Yıldız Technical University , Kocaeli University and Marmara University before entering politics . Akşener has been described as a devout Muslim who prays regularly . She is known to her supporters as Asena , after the mythical she-wolf . Politics . Akşener quit her post as a university department chair in 1994 and entered politics with the general elections in 1995 as deputy of Istanbul Province with the True Path Party ( DYP ) . She was Minister of the Interior between 8 November 1996 and 30 June 1997 , replacing Mehmet Ağar , who resigned as a result of his involvement in the Susurluk scandal . She was later forced out of office after the 1997 military memorandum . In the 1999 general election she was re-elected to parliament as a 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 , serving at this post after Nermin Neftçi , who was elected in 1968 to be Turkeys first female vice-speaker . She split with the MHP leadership in 2016 over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğans bid to transform Turkey’s constitution , and promised to start her own political party . Akşener was a 2018 presidential candidate . She received 7.3% of the votes . She announced the foundation of the Good Party on 25 October 2017 and revealed its logo and aims . “I call it the movement of the brave,” she said . In her first address to her followers , Akşener stated she believed that Turkish democracy is under threat and the Good Party wants a free society and to fix the problems of the Turkish judiciary system . Akşener further stated the media should not be under pressure . Democratic participation , a strong parliament and the national will are irreplaceable . We will democratize the law on political parties in the of contemporary democratic principles and the criteria of the Venice Commission . Aksener said that many who are joining her movement are young Turkish citizens who are chafing under the restrictions imposed by the government on public gatherings , freedom of expression , and constraints placed on the media .