Political Life And Leadership Struggle Of Kemalist Populist Turkish Cypriot Leader M. Necati Özkan (1926-1953)

Abstract

Cyprus has hosted many states because of its strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean. The rule of Ottoman Empire in Cyprus began in 1571 and artisans and farmers who were sent from Anatolia were the first representatives of Turkish presence in Cyprus. The Kadi and Mufti chosen by the Sublime Porte were acknowledged as the leaders of the Turkish Cypriots until the first quarter of the 20th century. This was because the Ottoman social structure naturally prevented the Turkish Cypriots from being governed by a political leader. Colonial rule was declared on the island in 1925 shortly after Cyprus was given to England with the Treaty of Lausanne. M. Necati Bey (Özkan), who took Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha as his guide and followed Kemalist policies, began to represent the Turkish Cypriot political leadership from the 1930s onwards. This situation continued until the World War II. However, the Turkish Cypriot leadership turned into a conflict between two groups from 1945 onwards. It is important to present M. Necati Özkan, the first political leader of the Kemalist Populist movement in Cyprus, and his struggle in every aspect to understand the roots of the Cyprus Problem which continues today. The purpose of this study is to reveal the political activities and leadership struggle of M. Necati Özkan, an important factor in the Turkish Cypriot Struggle for Existence, and the impacts it created. In order to achieve this goal, archives in Türkiye, the TRNC and England were researched, primary and secondary sources and personal archival documents presented to the scientific world for the first time were used, and the information obtained was complemented with news in the Turkish Cypriot press of the period along with oral history interviews, with the aim of reaching an objective conclusion.

There is no study that would require the approval of the Ethical Committee in this article.

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