First female candidate to challenge Erdogan in Turkey’s next election

Former interior minister Meral Aksener has formed a new party which could pose a strong challenge to President Tayyip Erdogan in presidential and parliamentary elections due within the next two years. She unsuccessfully opposed Erdogan’s unbridled drive to expand his powers in a referendum last April, and said Turkey needed change after nearly 15 years of his AK Party rule. “Turkey and its people are tired, the state is worn down, and public order is unraveling. There is no way other than the changing of the political atmosphere,” Aksener said at the launch of her party in Ankara.