DIFFERENCE
The oldest member of the Cabinet, he was born in 1953 in Lefkoşa. He graduated from the University of Arizona’s department of international relations in the US.
He served in the Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministry between 1983 and 1991, including a spell as a political affairs officer at the TRNC London Representative’s Office.
After serving as the Prime Ministry undersecretary for several years over two terms, he was elected as a UBP Lefkoşa MP in the December 1998 general election and served as Foreign and Defence Minister from 1999 to 2003. Between March 2010 and July 2011 he served as an independent MP, before founding his own party. He took office as a UBP MP again on December 31, 2012.
He served as the Public Works and Transport Minister in the Republican Turkish Party United ForcesUBP coalition government, which was founded on July 15, 2015.
He resigned from his position on April 4, 2016, and then became Foreign Minister in the UBP-DP National Forces government, which was established on April 16, 2016, and again in the UBP-DP-YDP government formed on December 9, 2020.
He retained his post in the UBP-DP coalition formed on November 5, 2021, but was left out of the UBP-DPYDP coalition created on February 21, 2022. However Mr Ertuğruloğlu returned as Foreign Minister just two weeks later following a reshuffle.
FINANCE MINISTER OLGUN AMCAOĞLU
He was born in Gönyeli in 1966, and attended the Anadolu University Open Education Facility in Eskişehir, Turkey, where he studied business administration.
After graduating, he worked in various roles in North Cyprus’s banking sector, working his way up to become the director of the Finance Ministry in 2009.
He was appointed as undersecretary at the Public Works and Transport Ministry in 2015, before being made undersecretary to then-Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün between 2016 and 2018.
He was elected as an MP in the 2018 general election, and initially served on the Economy, Finance, Budget, and Planning Committee, before being made Finance Minister for the first time by then-Prime Minister Ersin Tatar in 2019.
He was moved to the National Education and Culture brief by Ersan Saner in 2020, and stayed there in Faiz Sucuoğlu’s first government last year, before returning to the backbenches following this year’s election. He knows “very good” English and is married with three children.
INTERIOR MINISTER ÜNAL ÜSTEL
Mr Üstel was born in the Paphos village of Yeşilova in 1955. In 1983 he graduated from İstanbul University’s Faculty of Dentistry. He first entered Parliament, as a Girne UBP MP in a 1991 by-election and held on to his seat in the 1993 general election.
He served as Deputy Speaker from June 22, 2001 to October 2, 2003, and as Deputy General Secretary of the UBP from 2006 to 2009. On April 6, 2011, he was appointed Tourism, Environment and Culture Minister under the first İrsen Küçük government. On September 4, 2013, he became Deputy Speaker once again and served in this position until October 9, 2015.
He served as Tourism and Environment Minister in the UBP-People’s Party coalition government, established on May 22, 2019 but was sacked from this role on June 19, 2020.
Mr Üstel returned to the Cabinet just six months later, as the Public Works and Transport Minister in the UBP-DP-YDP coalition government established on December 9, 2020. He then served as Health Minister from February 20, 2021 to November 5, 2021. He was brought back to the Council of Ministers as Interior Minister on February 21, 2022. He is married and has two children.
PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORT MINISTER ERHAN ARIKLI
Born in Kars-Ardahan in Turkey in 1962, he graduated from Ankara University’s Faculty of Theology in 1985. He completed his first master’s degree in Ankara, second master’s degree at Girne American University, third master’s degree at Azerbaijan Beynelhalk University and a doctorate at the Azerbaijan Academy of Science’s Institute of Oriental Studies.
Since 1991, he has worked to promote the TRNC abroad, giving conferences in Turkic states and communities and was awarded an “Outstanding Service Medal” by the late Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev
In 2005, he was assigned to Azerbaijan as the special representative of the TRNC Foreign Minister and worked for direct flights between the TRNC and Azerbaijan. He was then appointed by the Foreign Ministry’s representative in Kyrgyzstan. While working here, Dr Arıklı continued his studies and published two books, The Turkic Peoples and Their History and The Cultural History of Turkic Peoples.
He first entered Parliament following the January 2018 general election as a Gazimağusa MP and leader of the Rebirth Party (YDP). He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Economy and Energy Minister in the first UBP-DP-YDP coalition from December 9, 2020, to November 5, 2021. He acquired his current ministerial post in the second UBP-DP-YDP coalition formed on February 21. He is married and has three children.
NATIONAL EDUCATION MINISTER NAZIM ÇAVUSOGLU NAZIM ÇAVUŞOĞLU
He was born in 1965 in Topçuköy. He studied Turkish language and literature at the Atatürk University. In 1991, he was appointed as a Turkish language and literature teacher at the Karpaz Vocational High School, where he worked 10 years.
During the same period, he completed his master’s degree in folk literature at Girne American University. He was first elected as a UBP İskele MP in the December 14, 2003 general election.
He served as the Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister in the Eroğlu government formed on May 4, 2009. He served as the National Education, Youth and Sports Minister in the government headed by İrsen Küçük, which was established on May 27, 2010, and then, following a reshuffle, Interior and Local Government Minister from April 6, 2011 to June 13, 2013.
He was the Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister in the UBP-DP National Forces coalition government, formed on April 16, 2016. He served as the National Education and Culture Minister in the UBPPeople’s Party coalition government established on May 22, 2019, before becoming Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister again in the UBP-DP-YDP government formed on December 9, 2020, a role that he retained in the UBP-DP government formed on November 5, 2021. He became National Education Minister on February 21. He is married and has two children.
AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES MINISTER DURSUN OĞUZ
He was born in Samsun (Ayvacık-Çarşamba) in Turkey in 1966. He came to the TRNC in 1975. He graduated from Turkey’s Anadolu University’s department of business administration and completed his master’s degree with a thesis in educational administration, supervision, planning and economics at Near East University. In 1996, he started to work at the Civil Defence Organisation’s Gazimağusa Regional Directorate.
In 2009, he resigned from this position and was appointed as the Deputy Prime Ministry and Foreign Ministry Cabinet Chief of Staff.
He was first elected as a UBP Gazimağusa MP in the July 28, 2013 general election. He served as the Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister in the UBP-People’s Party coalition government, which was formed on May 22, 2019. Mr Oğuz was also the Finance Minister in the UBP-DPYDP government established on December 9, 2020 and the UBP-DP government established on November 5, 2021. He became Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister in the second UBP-DP-YDP coalition formed on February 21. He is married and has three children.
HEALTH MINISTER ALİ PİLLİ
He was born in 1955 in Paphos’s Falya (Gökçebel) village. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine at Çukurova University, Turkey, he completed his specialist training in internal medicine at İstanbul’s Kartal Education and Research Hospital.
He worked as an internal medicine specialist at various health agencies in Turkey, and in the TRNC at the Güzelyurt Health Centre, Cengiz Topel Hospital and Lefke Health Centre, and as chief physician at Güzelyurt Health
Centre. He was first elected as a UBP MP in the 2013 general election. He became Health Minister in the UBPPeople’s Party Coalition Government, which was formed on May 22, 2019, a role he continued in under the UBPDP-YDP government established on December 9, 2020, before he was sacked in February 2021. He returned as Health Minister in the UBPDP government established on November 5, 2021, retaining this post in the second UBP-DP-YDP coalition formed on February 21. He is married and has one child.
LABOUR AND SOCIAL SECURITY MINISTER
HASAN TAÇOY
Born in Lefkoşa in 1963, he graduated from the USA’s University of Wisconsin Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences in 1986 before starting a career in “free trade” and the clothing sector. After spells as the head of the youth branch and head of the Lefkoşa district branch of the National Unity Party (UBP) he was first elected as a UBP Lefkoşa MP in 1998, winning successive terms in the 2003, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2018 and 2022 general elections.
He served as the Public Works and Transport Minister in the Eroğlu government established on May 4, 2009, and until May 17, 2010.
He became Public Works and Transport Minister once again in October 2014 and also served as the Economy and Energy Minister of in the UBP-People’s Party coalition Government, which was established on May 22, 2019. He was appointed Foreign Minister in the second UBPDP-YDP coalition formed on February 21, a role he held until March 9, when he became Labour and Social Security Minister following a Cabinet reshuffle. He speaks English, is married and has two children.
Education Mi Lefkoşa Mayo Şehit Hüseyin