Rauf Denktash (in Turkish spelled Denktaş) (born 1924), Turkish Cypriot political leader, was born in Baf (in Greek Paphos), in northern Cyprus. He trained first as a teacher and then as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in London. He returned home to practise as a lawyer and worked as a crown prosecutor before Cyprus won independence from Britain in 1960. He began representing the minority Turkish community at international conferences in 1963.
In 1973 Denktash was elected vice-president of the Republic of Cyprus, a position constitutionally reserved for a Turkish Cypriot, thus becoming the official leader of the Turkish Cypriot community. After the 1974 Turkish invasion, Denktash formed the National Unity Party, and in the following year he was elected President of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus as the island was split into two sections. He is now in his fourth five-year term as president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Turkey.
Denktash resisted efforts by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Britain to reunite the island. In 1994, at the insistence of Greece, the EU imposed a trade embargo which brought the economy to the edge of ruin.
By 2000, however, the desire of both Cyprus and Turkey to join the EU led to renewed efforts to reach a settlement. In 2002 there were large demonstrations in northern Cyprus by Turkish Cypriots demanding reunification of the island, which would give them EU citizenship when Cyprus joins the EU in 2004. In December 2003 Denktash's party suffered heavy losses in legislative elections, suggesting that his days as the unchallenged leader of the Turkish Cypriots are coming to an end.