Derviş Eroğlu

Derviş Eroğlu (born 1938, Famagusta [Gazimağusa], Cyprus [now in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus]) is a Turkish Cypriot physician and politician who served as president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) from 2010 to 2015.

Eroğlu completed his secondary education in Famagusta, Cyprus, after which he attended Istanbul University in the faculty of medicine. After graduating in 1963 he worked as a doctor in Famagusta and later trained as a urologist at Ankara General Hospital in Turkey.

In 1976 Eroğlu entered politics with his election as a member of the TRNC parliament, representing the National Unity Party (Ulusal Birlik Partisi; UBP). That same year he was appointed the TRNC minister of education, culture, youth, and sport (1976–77). From 1977 until 1983 he served as the UBP leader for Famagusta, and in December 1983 he was elected chairman of the party. The previous month the de facto Turkish Cypriot state in the northern one-third of Cyprus had made a unilateral declaration of independence (recognized only by Turkey), leaving the southern two-thirds of the island ruled by the Greek Cypriot majority.

Eroğlu held the office of prime minister three times (1985–93, 1996–2004, 2009–10) before being elected president in April 2010. His electoral victory—although by only a slim majority of 50.38 percent—was sufficient to avoid a second round of elections. When Eroğlu was elevated to the presidency, İrsen Küçük of the UBP replaced him as prime minister.

Eroğlu had campaigned on a platform that included sovereignty of the Greek and Turkish states in Cyprus rather than the unification that his predecessor, Mehmet Ali Talat, had aimed for. In spite of his reputation as a hard-liner, Eroğlu stated in both his campaign and his acceptance speech that he favoured continuing talks between the two Cypriot states, which resumed after a pause because of the elections and the change of government in the TRNC. However, these talks stalled, and Eroğlu faced further difficulties as the TRNC’s economy struggled. In the 2015 election he was easily defeated by the leftist politician Mustafa Akıncı.