AKSENER MAY CONTEST PRESIDENTIAL DREAMS

Ankara : A Turkish former interior minister once dubbed Turkey's Iron Lady and seen as a potentially strong challenger to-

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a political party Wednesday after months of speculation.

Meral Aksener delivered a defiant speech promising a ''strong, happy'' Turkey at the official launch of the Iyi [''Good''] Party in the capital Ankara. 

''We have hope. We have dreams. We want a rich Turkey.........we wan a free society. We want a happy Turkey,'' she said during a spirited address to an audience waving Turkish flags.

She was cheered by thousands of supporters and founding party members in a hall surrounded by the party's blue and yellow sun logo and banners of modern Turkey founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The party's slogan is : ''Turkey will be good''.

Aksener 61, was a member of the opposition right-wing Nationalist Movement Party [MHP] until she was expelled in September 2016.

Aksener has been described as Turkey's Iron Lady in a nod to the late British premier Margaret Thatcher but has also been compared to the French National Front leader Marine Le Pen.