Cyprus (Turkish) » Politics

Politics of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is head of state and the Prime Minister head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Assembly of the Republic. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

From 1975 to 2005, the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was Rauf Denktas. An ardent nationalist, he pursued a policy of trying to gain international recognition of the TRNC. However, this stance proved to be a major stumbling block to reconciliation efforts. This stance while initially supported by the Turkish Cypriot population, began to work against him when the Republic of Cyprus joined the European Union.