Mustafa Akıncı

Mustafa Akıncı
4th President of Northern Cyprus
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 April 2015
Prime Minister	Özkan Yorgancıoğlu
Preceded by	Derviş Eroğlu
Deputy Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus
In office 1999–2001
Prime Minister	Derviş Eroğlu
Mayor of North Nicosia
In office 1976–1990
Preceded by	Ziver Kemal
Succeeded by	Fuat Celalettin
Personal details
Born	(1947-12-28) 28 December 1947 Limassol, Cyprus
Political party	Communal Democracy Party
Spouse(s)	Meral Akıncı
Alma mater	Middle East Technical University
Website	www.mustafaakinci.com

Mustafa Akıncı (born 28 December 1947) is the fourth and current President of Northern Cyprus. He was elected to this position in the 2015 presidential election. At the age of 28, he became the mayor of Nicosia Turkish Municipality, and has also served as a member of the Assembly of the Republic, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism.^[1]

In 1975, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Turkish Cypriots.^[2] Following this election, he became the first elected Mayor of the Nicosia Turkish Municipality, and served for an uninterrupted term of 14 years from 1976 to 1990. Between 1993 and 2009, he served as an elected member of parliament in Northern Cyprus.^[3]

Mayor of the Nicosia Turkish Municipality

During the 14 years of Mayorship, he collaborated with the then Nicosia Greek Cypriot Mayor on the implementation of the Nicosia Sewerage Project and the Nicosia Master Plan. In this context, Nicosia Master Plan received the ‘World Habitat Award’ in 1989 and the ‘Aga Khan Award for Architecture’ in 2007. Additionally, in 2003 Akıncı and his Greek Cypriot counterpart were awarded the prestigious ‘Europa Nostra Medal of Honour’ in recognition of their consistent and successful efforts for Nicosia and its citizens during particularly difficult times, and for the preservation of the historical and architectural environment of the Walled City.^[2]

Akıncı also played a vital role in the establishment of the Union of Turkish Cypriot Municipalities, of which he then became the first president.^[2]

2015 TRNC presidential campaign

On 13 March 2015, Mustafa Akıncı successfully completed his application to run for presidency.^[4]

During his campaign, he put his voice forward regarding the ghost town Varosha, which is a very lively topic regarding the Cyprus problem. It was possible to see that Akıncı favoured a settling approach to solve this problem. Regarding Varosha, Akıncı stated that, "Instead of living side by side a corpse let Varosha become a lively city where people live, contractors from both communities do business together and young people can find jobs".^[5]

On 19 April 2015, the presidential elections took place in northern Cyprus and Mustafa Akıncı gained 26.9% of the votes which put him second behind Derviş Eroğlu who got 28.2% of the votes. Based on these results, Akıncı got the chance to compete with Derviş Eroğlu in the second round of the presidential elections which took place on 26 April 2015.^[6] He won the elections last round.^[7][8]

The Republic of Cyprus regards his victory as positive as he has expressed the interest of holding discussions regarding the reunification of Cyprus^[7][9] and the re-opening of Varosha in Famagusta for tourists.^[9]

Publications

In 2010, Akıncı published his first book named "Belediye Başkanlığı'nda 14 yıl". This book, at the length of 479 pages, aimed to summarise his experiences during his years as a Mayor of the Nicosia Turkish Municipality.^[10]

References