Özdil Nami (born 23 May 1967) is a British-born Turkish Cypriot politician. He has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Northern Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot Special Representative in the negotiations to solve the Cyprus dispute. He currently serves as the Minister of Economy and Energy of Northern Cyprus.
Nami was born in London on 23 May 1967. He studied business in the Boğaziçi University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences,graduating in 1988,and went on to complete a master's degree in finance in the University of California,Berkeley in 1991. [1] [2]
After his return to Cyprus,he started to work in the company of his family,Erdil &Sons Ltd as a director. Between 1993 and 1997,he delivered business lectures in the Eastern Mediterranean University,Near East University and the European University of Lefke. He was appointed in 1997 as an adviser to the President Rauf Denktaş on political analysis and took part in the negotiations to solve the Cyprus dispute until 2000. He then served as a Councillor at the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce in 2000 and 2001 and as the Chairperson of Cyprus Turkish Businessmen Association between 2001 and 2003. [1] [2]
In the 2003 parliamentary election,he was elected as a member of the parliament for the Republican Turkish Party (CTP),representing the Lefkoşa District. In January 2005,he was chosen to represent Turkish Cypriots at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and in February 2005. He was re-elected to the same position in the parliament in 2005 and appointed to the position of the Turkish Cypriot Special Representative for the negotiations under President Mehmet Ali Talat,serving in that position until Talat's replacement by DervişEroğlu in 2010. He was re-elected as a CTP MP for the Lefkoşa District in the 2009 and 2013 parliamentary elections. [1] [2]
On 1 September 2013,he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Northern Cyprus in the Yorgancıoğlu cabinet. [2] On 11 May 2015,he resigned from his position as a minister after being appointed by the newly elected President Mustafa Akıncı as his Special Representative in the negotiations; [3] Nami had already taken over this position on 4 May. [4]
On 2 February 2018,he assumed the role of the Minister of Economy and Energy in the Erhürman cabinet.
Mehmet Ali Talat is a Turkish Cypriot politician who served as the president of Northern Cyprus from 2005 to 2010. Talat was the leader of the social democratic Republican Turkish Party,from 1996 to 2005 and 2015 to 2016. 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. He lost the presidential election of 2010 and was replaced by DervişEroğlu as President.
North Nicosia or Northern Nicosia is the capital and largest city of the de facto state of Northern Cyprus. It is the northern part of the divided city of Nicosia,and is governed by the Nicosia Turkish Municipality. As of 2011,North Nicosia had a population of 61,378 and a metropolitan area with a population of 82,539.
Serdar Denktaş is son of Rauf Denktaş,the former President of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Early parliamentary elections were held in Northern Cyprus on 20 February 2005,after the coalition government led by Mehmet Ali Talat lost its majority in the House of Representatives. The vote was a resounding victory for Mehmet Ali Talat's CTP-United Forces alliance,although it fell just short of a majority. The UBP,Democratic Party and BDH also crossed the 5% election threshold and won seats in the House.
The Politics of Northern Cyprus takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic,whereby the president is head of state and the prime minister is the head of government,and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Assembly of the Republic. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The Assembly of the Republic is the parliament of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It has 50 members,elected for a five-year term by mitigated proportional representation. A party must cross the electoral threshold to be awarded any seats. The parliament is composed of 50 MPs,chosen from six electoral districts,which are coterminous with the districts of Northern Cyprus:Lefkoşa,Gazimağusa,Girne,Güzelyurt,Lefke and İskele.
Northern Cyprus is recognised only by Turkey,a country which facilitates many of its contacts with the international community. After it was occupied by Turkey,Northern Cyprus' relations with the rest of the world were further complicated by a series of United Nations resolutions which declared its independence legally invalid. A 2004 UN Referendum on settling the Cyprus dispute was accepted by the Turkish Cypriots but rejected by the Greek Cypriots. After that,the European Union declared its intentions to assist in reducing the economic isolation of Northern Cyprus and began giving aid to the territory. However,due to pressure from Greece and the Republic of Cyprus,this aid coming from EU funds cannot be used on Greek Cypriot land and property nor on public bodies. As a result,these funds can be used only on 29 percent of people on the island of Cyprus.
The women in Northern Cyprus are inhabitants of the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,where they have been contributors to the fields of science,law and justice. However,several factors have inhibited women's participation in politics,and women constitute only 8% of the Assembly of the Republic. In 2013,Sibel Siber became the first female prime minister of Northern Cyprus.
Presidential elections were held in Northern Cyprus in April 2015. In the first round on 19 April incumbent president and independent candidate DervişEroğlu and independent candidate Mustafa Akıncıprogressed to the second round. The second round took place on 26 April and was won by Akıncı.
Kudret Özersay is a Turkish Cypriot academic,diplomat and politician. A scholar in international politics by profession,he served in the negotiations to solve the Cyprus dispute between 2002 and 2012 and in 2014. He was the Special Representative of the President of Northern Cyprus between 2010 and 2012 and again in 2014. He established and led the Toparlanıyoruz Movement and is one of the founders and the current leader of People's Party.
Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu is a Turkish Cypriot politician. He served as a member of the Assembly of the Republic representing the Lefkoşa District between 1998 and 2018. During this time,he was a member of the National Unity Party (UBP) between 1998 and 2010,serving as the leader of the party between 2006 and 2008. He returned to the UBP in 2012 and remained its representative until the end of his tenure as an MP. He served in different ministerial positions,including a five-year tenure as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense between 1998 and 2004.
Mustafa Akıncı is a Turkish Cypriot politician who was the president of Northern Cyprus from April 2015 until October 2020.
Mehmet Çakıcı is a Turkish Cypriot politician and psychiatrist. He served as the first leader of the Communal Democracy Party (TDP) between 2007 and 2013 and has been a member of the Assembly of the Republic since 2003. He then served as an independent member of the parliament for the Lefkoşa District,having resigned from the TDP in November 2016 and founded a new party,the Communal Liberation Party. His tenure as an MP ended in 2018 after his party failed to reach the election threshold.
DoğuşDerya is a Turkish Cypriot activist and politician. She was elected a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Northern Cyprus in 2013.
Emine Çolak is a Turkish Cypriot lawyer who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Northern Cyprus in the Kalyoncu cabinet between July 2015 and April 2016.
Hasan Taçoy is a Turkish Cypriot politician who served as the Minister of Public Works and Transport between 2009 and 2010 and between 2014 and 2015.
Parliamentary elections were held in Northern Cyprus on 7 January 2018 to elect the 50 members of the Assembly of the Republic for a five-year term. Going into the elections,the government was led by Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün,who had served since 16 April 2016,leading a coalition consisting of the National Unity Party and the Democratic Party.
Tufan Erhürman is a Turkish Cypriot academic,lawyer,diplomat and a former Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus. A scholar in public law by profession,he served in the negotiations to solve the Cyprus dispute between 2008 and 2010. He previously worked for the Ministry of Justice of Turkey between 1999 and 2004 and worked for the establishment of the position of ombudsman in Turkey. He is the current leader of Republican Turkish Party. He held the office of Prime Minister beginning January 2018 as the leader of a four-party coalition. The coalition government resigned on 9 May 2019,with Erhürman continuing as Prime Minister until the office was taken over by Ersin Tatar on 22 May 2019.
Sıla Usar İncirli is a Turkish Cypriot neurologist,politician,researcher and trade unionist. She was elected as a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Northern Cyprus in 2018.
Presidential elections were held in Northern Cyprus on 11 October 2020 alongside a constitutional referendum,with a run-off held on 18 October 2020. They were originally scheduled to take place on 26 April 2020,but were postponed in March 2020 for six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No candidate won a majority of votes in the first round.