Mehmet Ali Talat

Mehmet Ali Talat
2nd President of Northern Cyprus
In office 24 April 2005 – 23 April 2010
Prime Minister	Ferdi Sabit Soyer Derviş Eroğlu
Preceded by	Rauf Denktaş
Succeeded by	Derviş Eroğlu
Prime Minister of de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
In office 13 January 2004 – 24 April 2005
President	Rauf Denktaş
Preceded by	Derviş Eroğlu
Succeeded by	Ferdi Sabit Soyer
Personal details
Born	6 July 1952 Kyrenia, Cyprus
Nationality	Turkish Cypriot
Political party	Republican Turkish Party
Spouse(s)	Oya Talat
Residence	North Nicosia, Northern Cyprus
Alma mater	Middle East Technical University Eastern Mediterranean University

Mehmet Ali Talat (born 6 July 1952) is a Turkish-Cypriot politician and was the president of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.^[1] Talat is the leader of the social democratic Republican Turkish Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi, CTP),^[2] having previously held this position between 1996 and 2005.^[3] He became prime minister in 2004, and subsequently won the presidential election held on 17 April 2005. Talat was inaugurated on 25 April 2005, succeeding retiring leader Rauf Denktaş.^[4]

Biography

Talat was born in Kyrenia on 6 July 1952. Completing his secondary education in Cyprus, Talat graduated from Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey.^[5]

Involved in various political activities since he was a university student, Talat continued after he returned to Cyprus, and played an important role in the establishment of Turkish Cypriot trade unions and the Turkish Cypriot Students' Youth Federation (KOGEF), becoming the first chairman of its executive board.^[6]

He also participated in the youth movement of the Republican Turkish Party, and served in various committees and organs of the CTP for many years. He served as the party secretary for Education.^[7]

Political career

Early political career and party leadership

Talat was the Minister of Education and Culture in the first coalition government formed by the CTP-Democrat Party (DP) Alliance after the general elections of December 1993. He undertook the same post in the second DP-CTP coalition government, and became the Minister of State and Deputy Prime Minister in the third DP-CTP coalition government.^[7]

Talat was elected as the leader of the CTP on 14 January 1996, succeeding Özker Özgür. After being elected to the TRNC parliament on 14 December 2003, Talat formed another CTP-DP coalition government on 13 January 2004, at the behest of the then-TRNC President Rauf Denktaş, when the incumbent Prime minister Derviş Eroğlu was unable to do so.^[8]

Presidency

Talat meets with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C. on April 15, 2009.

Winning a victory in the 20 February 2005 general elections, Talat formed the second CTP-DP coalition, serving as Prime Minister until his election as the second TRNC President on 17 April 2005, when he asked CTP Deputy Leader Ferdi Sabit Soyer to form a new government.^[9]

During the 2004 referendum on the Annan Plan to extinguish the Republic of Cyprus through the formation of a loose confederation along ethnic division in advance of its entry to the European Union, Talat promoted a 'Yes' vote among Turkish Cypriots and the plan received overwhelming endorsement north of the Green Line. However, Tassos Papadopoulos, the then President of the Republic of Cyprus, opposed the plan and the Greek Cypriot community rejected it by a large majority opting for an as yet undefined constitution along the EU norms principles such as universal suffrage. As a consequence, the plan was dropped, but the EU declared it would seek to implement trade concessions and other measures designed to alleviate the isolation of Northern Cyprus as a reward for the Turkish Cypriot referendum result. Talat remained publicly committed to reunification. However the pro-solutionist side and Mehmet Al Talat lost momentum, because of the ongoing embargo and isolation, despite promises from the European Union of easing them, which did not occur, and as a result the Turkish Cypriot electorate became frustrated. This led ultimately to the pro-independence side winning the general elections in 2009 and its candidate, former Prime Minister Derviş Eroğlu winning the presidential elections in 2010. Although his side and he himself disagrees with and opposes re-unification with the Republic of Cyprus, and favours the unity of and close relations between northern Cyprus and Turkey and supports the independence of the former, he nevertheless is negotiating with the Greek Cypriot side towards a settlement for reunification, to establish a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation in Cyprus, based on the political equality of the two communities, single sovereignty, single citizenship and international identity.^[7]

Return to politics

On 14 June 2015, Talat won the congress of the CTP and became the leader of the party again.^[2]

References

1. "Mehmet Ali Talat". Biyografi.info. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
2. "Talat: "Parti içi bölünmeleri sileceğiz"" (in Turkish). Kıbrıs Postası. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
3. "Portre: Mehmet Ali Talat" (in Turkish). Al Jazeera. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
4. http://biyografi.bibilgi.com/Mehmet%20Ali%20Talat
5. "Son Dakika Mehmet Ali Talat Haberleri". Sondakika.com. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
6. "kktcb.eu". kktcb.eu. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
7. "-UYARI-". ctp-bg.com. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
8. "Kim Kimdir?™ Biyografi Bankası – FORSNET". Kimkimdir.gen.tr. 4 December 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2011. C1 control character in |title= at position 12 (help)
9. "Mehmet Ali Talat Biyografisi". NedirKimdir.Org. 29 September 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2011.