Ersin Tatar, who was elected the 5th President of the TRNC and was sworn in at a General Assembly on Friday, will make his first official visit to Turkey as president on Monday.
In his first interview, Tatar shared his feelings at being elected as president, saying that he was happy to be in this office, but had been upset by accusations that “he won through intervention”.
Noting that he was a candidate with the proposal and unanimous decision of his party, Tatar said, “I did not claim to be a presidential candidate straight away, but the conditions developed that way because this position is important, who will sit for this office is important.”
Tatar said that it felt remarkable to take office in the Presidential Palace where as a child aged 5, he had played.
Tatar was brought up by his grandparents after his mother died when he was eight years old. His grandfather Cemal Müftüzade, was appointed as Vice-President Dr. Fazil Küçük’s undersecretary since the foundation of the Republic of Cyprus, hence Tatar’s access to the palace when he was a child.
His father Rüstem Tatar, was one of the most prominent figures in Turkish Cypriot politics.
Rüstem Tatar served as the President of the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Cyprus, which was jointly established by the Turkish and Greek Cypriots in 1960, and the Ministry of Finance of the Turkish Cypriots from 1967 to the Cyprus Peace Operation in 1974 and then to 1983, when the TRNC was declared.
He was the economic consultant of the Turkish delegation in the 1960 London and Zurich agreements, when the Republic of Cyprus was established. Therefore his son, Ersin was born and raised in political life.
Ersin Tatar graduated from Cambridge University in 1982 and was employed by Price Waterhouse until 1986.
Between 1986-1990, he worked at Polly Peck Company UK owned by Asil Nadir. Tatar says that he gained a great deal of experience there, and had had the opportunity to meet and work with many well known business people.
Tatar worked as Finance Manager at FMC-Nurol Savunma Sanayi A.Ş. in Ankara between 1990-1992.
Between the years 1992-2001, he served as the Finance Coordinator of one of Turkey’s most popular television channels in Istanbul. Having a special interest in media, Ersin Tatar founded “Kanal T”, the first private television channel in North Cyprus, in 1996.
Tatar, who decided to engage in active politics with his return to North Cyprus, joined the National Unity Party (UBP). He first entered the Party Assembly and served as the Deputy Secretary-General. In the early general elections of 19 April 2009, he was elected as a deputy for the UBP and entered parliament. Tatar served as the Minister of Finance in the Eroğlu government, which was established on May 4, 2009, continued his duties during the Küçük government established on May 27, 2010.
In 2013, he was re-elected as a UBP deputy. Tatar, served actively in the Finance, Economy, Budget and Planning Committee of the Assembly of the Republic between 2013-2018, continued to chair this committee for a time.
He was elected again on 8 January, 2018. In October of the same year, Tatar was elected Chairman at the UBP Congress. Tatar was tasked with forming the new government after the four-party coalition government resigned on May 8, 2019. Tatar has been serving as the Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus since 22 May 2019.
In addition to active politics, he has also served in many non-governmental organisations, associations and clubs.
BRT, ersintatar.net
