Meral Akşener

Meral Akşener (née Gürer, Turkish pronunciation: [meˈɾal ˈakʃenæɾ]; born 18 July 1956) is a Turkish politician, teacher, historian and academic who is the founder of the Good Party (İYİ Party).

Akşener first entered parliament as a deputy of the True Path Party (DYP) in the 1995 and 1999 general election, and served as the interior minister in the coalition government established by Necmettin Erbakan between 1996 and 1997. Distrustful of her coalition partner, she played a key role in the downfall of her own government in the 1997 military memorandum.

Akşener entered the parliament as a deputy of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in the 2007, 2011 and June 2015 general elections, serving as a vice-speaker of the Grand National Assembly from 2007 to 2015. After tensions between her and the MHP's leader Devlet Bahçeli, she was not nominated as an MP for the November 2015 general election. In 2016, she led a group of opposition within the party against Bahçeli. In 2017 she separated from the MHP and founded the Good Party, of which she was the leader. She was the party's presidential candidate for the 2018 elections. Akşener was a key opposition figure in Turkish politics and has been dubbed as an "iron lady" by international observers. She resigned her leadership following her party's defeat in the 2024 local elections, with Müsavat Dervişoğlu succeeding her.