Meral Akşener meets 1,500 supporters in Istanbul before launch of new party

The long-awaited new political party set to be officially founded in October, led by former Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lawmaker Meral Akşener, has held its first meeting in Istanbul with the participation of 1,500 supporters.
 
"Our party will be born as the party of Turkey. Our nation has acknowledged it as Turkey's party even before it has been born," Akşener said at the meeting in Istanbul's Avcılar district on Sep. 26.
 
At the meeting attended by thousands of supporters, Akşener introduced the founders' committee of the party as "retired ambassadors Ahmet Erozan and Tugay Uluçevik, former ministers Aydın Tümen and Suat Çağlayan, former lawmakers Cevher Cevheri and Kazım Ataoğlu, businesswomen Çiğdem Özer, Elif Gökdemir from Tokyo University, and former police chief Fatih Eryılmaz."
 
The name, emblem and internal party regulations will be declared on Oct. 25, Akşener stated.
 
"There will not be any women's branch in the party structure," she said, stressing that instead women "will take positions in every level of the party's organization."
 
"There will be a 30 percent women's quota, as we are still discussing with our male friends. The quota will be at every level in the party," she added. 
 
Akşener also said they are planning to allocate some of the finances that political parties receive as state aid to women who have newly entered politics.

"We will work to build a base, both for the political atmosphere and for our party," she said.
 
Akşener noted that she had faced "logistical difficulties" in the process of forming the party, including finding a headquarters for the party, rooms for meetings, and hotels for accommodation.
 
"Some hotel administrations are acting under the...