Ceremony held for former politician, judge and lawyer

A CEREMONY was held outside Parliament last Friday for a former Turkish Cypriot politician, judge and lawyer, Ahmet Aziz Altay, who died the day before aged 94.

Interim Parliamentary Speaker Ünal Üstel, Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoğlu, Supreme Court Chief Justice Narin Ferdi Şefik, Turkish Resistance Organisation (TMT) Veterans Association head Yılmaz Bora, ministers and MPs attended the ceremony.

President Ersin Tatar was unable to attend as he was self-isolating due to Covid-19, but sent a message saying that Mr Altay’s services would “never be forgotten”.

Mr Üstel said in a speech at the ceremony that the country had lost a “very important and valued” person.

According to information provided by Parliament, Mr Altay was born on October 26, 1927, in the “mixed village” of Aktepe (Asproya).

After studying at the Cyprus Islamic High School, he went to England to study law at Gray’s Inn, graduating with the title of Barrister-at-Law.

He returned to Cyprus in 1956. In November 1957 he was selected as the Cyprus Turkish Institutions Federation’s Paphos representative and continued in this position until the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960.

Mr Altay was among the founders of the TMT in 1957, was its representative in Paphos and also presided over the TMT for a while.

In August 1958, he was trained by military personnel from Turkey and worked as Deputy Commander-in-Chief until the end of October 1963.

He was elected to the Republic of Cyprus’s House of Representatives from Paphos and continued his parliamentary position until 1970. He became a judge on August 22, 1972.

He became Girne District Court president in 1976 and the Lefkoşa High Court Judge in March 1980. Mr Altay retired as Supreme Court Chief Justice in October 1992. He was married and had one child and also spoke English and Greek.