Özker Özgür

Özker Özgür was a leading

Turkish-Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,00 ...

politician. Özgür, whose last name means "free" was born in 1940 in the village of Vretça,

Paphos District Paphos District ( el, Επαρχία Πάφου, tr, Baf kazası) is one of the six districts of Cyprus and it is situated in the western part of Cyprus. Its main town and capital is Paphos. The entire district is controlled by the internati ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

. During 1961–1975 he worked as a secondary school English teacher on the island. With the votes of the teachers, he was elected to the founding parliament of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus in 1975. Between 1976 and 1996 he served as the leader of the

Republican Turkish Party The Republican Turkish Party ( tr, Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi, CTP) is a social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Northern Cyprus, political party in Northern Cyprus. The party was founded in 1970 by Ahmet Mithat Berberoğ ...

CTP in Cyprus. In the early general elections of 1993 he was elected to the Parliament and served as the Deputy

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

and State Minister for

North Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. Recog ...

. In 1997 he stepped down as the chairman of the

due to internal party politics. He continued his political life as a member of the New Cyprus Party which then continued as the

United Cyprus Party The United Cyprus Party ( Turkish: ''Birleşik Kıbrıs Partisi'', BKP) is a left-wing, socialist party in Northern Cyprus. The party was founded in 2003 by İzzet İzcan. It supports the idea of a free, demilitarised and united Cyprus Cy ...

. Özker Özgür died on 22 November 2005. 1940 births 2005 deaths People from Paphos District Republican Turkish Party politicians United Cyprus Party politicians Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Northern Cyprus) {{Cyprus-politician-stub