Mustafa Çağatay was a Turkish Cypriot politician who served as the first Prime Minister of the

Turkish Republic of Northern 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. Reco ...

from 15 November 1983 to 13 December 1983. He was previously prime minister of the

Turkish Federated State of Cyprus The Turkish Federated State of Cyprus ( tr, ) was a state on the region of Northern Cyprus declared in 1975 and existing until 1983, that was not recognised by the international community. It was succeeded by the Turkish Republic of Northern C ...

from 1978 to 1983.

Early life and early political career

Çağatay was born in 1937 in the town of Limassol. He completed middle school in Limassol and graduated from the Nicosia Boys' High School. Having worked as a civil servant in the Limassol District Court for three years, he then went to London to train as a lawyer and returned in 1963, having completed his training. He started working as a lawyer and joined the

Turkish Resistance Organisation The Turkish Resistance Organisation ( tr, Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı, TMT) was a Turkish Cypriot pro- taksim paramilitary organisation formed by Rauf Denktaş and Turkish military officer Rıza Vuruşkan in 1958 as an organisation to counter t ...

, serving as a legal adviser in the Limassol District headquarters. He then served as a military commander during the intercommunal fighting of 1964, he is noted to have led a significant resistance on 13 February 1964. He was elected to the Turkish Cypriot Communal Assembly on 5 July 1970, representing Limassol. Following the

Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of intercommunal violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and in response to a Greek junta-s ...

in 1974 and the Greek Cypriot capture of the

Turkish Cypriot enclave The Turkish Cypriot enclaves were inhabited by Turkish Cypriots between the intercommunal violence of 1963–64 and the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Events leading to the creation of the enclaves In December 1963 the President of the Repu ...

of Limassol, Çağatay was arrested as a prisoner of war. He was later released, displaced to Northern Cyprus and represented Turkish Cypriots in talks with Greek Cypriots as a representative of the Turkish Cypriots of Limassol.

Member of Parliament and Prime Minister

He was elected as a member of the parliament representing the

Girne District Girne District ( tr, Girne İlçesi) is one of six districts of Northern Cyprus. It is divided between two sub-districts: Girne Sub-district and the Çamlıbel Sub-district. Its capital is Kyrenia, also known by its Turkish name, as Girne. Its ...

for the National Unity Party (UBP) in the parliamentary election of 1976. He then served as the Vice President of the UBP group in the parliament. In the First Konuk cabinet, he was appointed as the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

on 18 December 1976 and the Minister of Labour and Social Security in a cabinet reshuffle on 8 July 1977. He served in this position until the end of the cabinet on 21 April 1978. He then became the Minister of Labour, Social Works and Health in the Örek cabinet, which took office on 21 April 1978. However, on 27 June 1978, he resigned from this post. His term as prime minister saw the consolidation of the state in Northern Cyprus. According to political scientist and columnist Hasan Hastürer, President Rauf Denktaş heavily interfered with the government during his term as Prime Minister and a system of exploitation of Greek Cypriot properties and corruption was in place. However, according to Hastürer, Çağatay never actually exploited any Greek Cypriot property, never allowed any relatives any privileges and was known as a man of integrity. According to the then-politician Ali Atun, Çağatay was eliminated from his position by Denktaş for unknown reasons; Mehmet Hasgüler, a professor of political science, has written that it is rumoured that when Çağatay visited Turkey as the founding Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus, he would only be met by a governor, upon which he refused to go out of the plane, and said that Çağatay's immediate "removal" from Prime Ministry and the end of his political career suggest that this may be partly true.

Death

He died on April 3, 1989, in a traffic accident in

Kyrenia Kyrenia ( el, Κερύνεια ; tr, Girne ) is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. While there is evidence showing that the wider region ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cagatay, Mustafa 1937 births 1989 deaths 20th-century prime ministers of Northern Cyprus Prime Ministers of Northern Cyprus Finance ministers of Northern Cyprus Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Northern Cyprus) National Unity Party (Northern Cyprus) politicians Leaders of political parties in Northern Cyprus Road incident deaths in Cyprus People from Limassol