Prime minister Tansu Çiller (1993-1996): Her impact on feminism in Turkey?

Tansu Çiller was the first and only female Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey. She served as Prime Minister between 1993 and 1996. The 1990s, on the other hand, were marked as an era when feminism was institutionalized in Turkey. In this respect, there is a need to analyze the relationship between Tansu Çiller and women's movement in Turkey. This study is designed to analyze Tansu Çiller's effect on women's movement during her term as prime minister. In other words, the study investigates whether she influenced women's movements in Turkey during her term of service. For this research, Tansu Çiller's statements regarding women during her term of service are scrutinized in addition measuring Tansu Çiller's perception in feminist articles of the term. Selected newspapers were used to access Tansu Çiller's relevant statements for this study. Certain codified words in the selected newspaper articles were used in the analysis of her statements delivered during her term. Articles on Tansu Çiller in feminist periodicals of the period were used as data to access feminist opinions about the prime minister and these articles are analyzed in two categories as positive and negative. From this perspective, the subject and research method of this study are unique. With this research method, the study questions whether: Tansu Çiller contributed to the development of women's movements in Turkey, took interest in women's issues, acted as a leading role model for Turkish women and encouraged them, attempted to make regulations in favor of women, took measures to facilitate women's entry into politics and applied any solution to dismiss regulations preventing women's involvement in the public sphere. The study attempts to reveal the relationship between women's movement and the first female prime minister of Turkey, her perspective towards women's issues and the extent to which she tackled these issues, yielding significant results.