RAUF Raif Denktash began life in Paphos in 1924 as the son of Raif Mehmet and Emine. When his mother died during his infancy, his father, a district court judge, sent Rauf to study at boarding school in Istanbul. As a teenager he returned to Cyprus to study at the prestigious English School in Nicosia. After graduating, he worked briefly as a translator, court clerk and as a teacher at the English School. Then, as the Second World War drew to a close, he travelled to London to study law at Lincoln’s Inn, from where he qualified as a barrister in law in 1947 and returned to Cyprus.
His political career began in 1948 when the young Denktash served as a member of the Consultative Council, a body set up by the colonial rulers of the island to establish limited self-rule for Cypriots. At the same time, he was also a member of the Turkish Affairs Committee representing Turkish Cypriot interests to the British colonial government.
By 1949, Denktash had begun working as a crown prosecutor, a position he remained in until 1958. It was in this capacity that Denktash met and became friends with fellow lawman Glafcos Clerides, later to became president of Cyprus and thereby Denktash’s sparring partner in negotiations between the two communities.
When Greek Cypriots began an uprising against British rule in 1955, Denktash, believed the Turkish Cypriot community to be in danger and was instrumental in the formation the Turkish Resistance Organisation (TMT), an underground body whose declared aim was to prevent Cyprus from being united with Greece.
As Cyprus headed towards independence, Denktash became increasingly prominent and was by far the most eloquent and outspoken voice in the Turkish Cypriot community. In 1958 he appeared before the UN General Assembly to put the case for his community. The same year, he advised the Turkish government about his community’s interests ahead of the 1959 Zurich Agreement that paved the way for the establishment of the Cyprus Republic a year later. After its establishment, the young leader was elected president of the Turkish Communal Chamber.
After just three years, however, the bicommunal state collapsed when the then-president Archbishop Makarios’ III sought to alter the island’s constitution in a way that Turkish Cypriots felt would deprive them of a say in the running of the state. The ensuing stalemate led to many Turkish Cypriots being forced out of their positions in the fledgling state. Turkish Cypriot representatives then withdrew on mass from the government as armed conflict broke out between Greek and Turkish Cypriot militias. Seeking help from the Turkish government, Denktash travelled to Ankara but was refused re-entry to the island by the Republic until 1968 on the grounds that he was a member of the underground TMT.
Coming five days after a military coup that had effectively united Cyprus with Greece, the Turkish invasion of 1974 was viewed by Denktash as nothing but liberation from the grip of his worst possible nightmare. Indeed, partitioning the island was something he had been espousing since the 1950s. Following the establishment of a UN-brokered ceasefire and a series of unsuccessful negotiations, Denktash was instrumental in establishing the ‘Turkish Federated State of Cyprus’ (TFSC) to which he was elected ‘president’ in 1976.
Gaining his second term as ‘president’ in 1981, Denktash renamed his breakaway state the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC), in a move that many felt was made in order to make reunification far less likely. In 1985 he suffered the tragedy of his son Raif’s death in a traffic accident.
During the 1990s, Denktash’s position hardened further when in 1995 the EU imposed an embargo on Turkish Cypriot exports. This prompted him to threaten annexing the north of the island to Turkey.
By the early 2000s, the political and economic isolation of the north, compounded by a series of economic crises in Turkey, was beginning to take its toll. Increasing numbers of Turkish Cypriots questioned whether Denktash’s chosen path had been the right one. Few any longer believed that the Cyprus problem had been solved in 1974 by physical division. Perhaps more importantly, a new government had been elected in Turkey that signaled very early on that it would not offer the now veteran leader unqualified support.
In 2002, mass demonstrations in north Nicosia called for his resignation and for the island to be reunited. With Cyprus’ membership of the EU looming in 2004, Turkish Cypriots, and the Turkish government in Ankara, saw this as a golden opportunity for the community to come out of political and economic isolation.
However, Denktash had other plans, and did his best to scupper reunification negotiations that had begun yet again in 2001. Although as Turkish Cypriot leader he was the chief negotiator for his community, Denktash never liked the Annan Plan, a UN-backed blueprint for reunification that was put before the two communities in separate referenda at the end of negotiations in April 2004. He also had little affection for the EU, which he saw simply as a means for Greek Cypriots to realise their dream of union with Greece. “Enosis though the back door” is what he dubbed EU membership. The increasingly bitter Denktash refused to participate in the final stages of the Annan plan’s negotiation, declaring its fundamental tenets as a betrayal of his beloved ‘TRNC’. When his people voted overwhelmingly in favour of the blueprint, Denktash announced that he would not stand for re-election in ‘presidential’ elections a year later.
Despite retiring, Denktash remained an active political campaigner and continued to write prolifically. For many years he continued to maintain a work schedule that would put many much younger men to shame. Known as a consummate workaholic, he somehow managed combine leadership with writing over 50 books on subjects ranging from philosophy, religion, photography, and of course the Cyprus problem. He leaves his wife Aydin, his son Serdar Denktash and daughters Ender and Deger.
